Chronicle of the defenders
by cinnamon988
Summary: After eight years, Rose's getting on with her life, as the Defender of the Earth. But one day, a part of her past comes back to haunt her, crashing the life she built.
1. Chapter 1 new old life

**disclaimer - I own absolutely nothing.**

**a/n.: corrected version**

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Chapter one – New old life

She goes to work at 8:00, six times a week. She works straight to noon, then she goes out to eat lunch. Between finishing her remaining paperwork and going home, she chats a bit with her co-workers. After work she goes to have dinner with her family, where her mother interrogates her about her day at work, her new car and about her lack of boyfriend, then said mother starts to talk about the different suitable boys she's met, and who all wants to met her. She goes home after that, watches the telly for a while and then goes to sleep. And the next day the routine starts again.

For anybody that seems like a normal day for a twenty-something, happy-to-be-single woman.

Rose Tyler's day consisted the same things with minor modifications. It was still pretty normal, but we all know that normal is only the matter of perspective. She really believed that being one of the most respected diplomats in the Galaxy, after solving a diplomacy problem between Dallia and the Callixus II- who were fighting for two millenias- between finishing paperwork and the family dinner was normal. Or that her co-workers were all geniuses, rocket-scientists and other experts like that. By her standards she was normal. What other people'd think, that was another question.

Rose Tyler was one of the highest ranking officers – the head of the diplomacy department- in Great-Britains not so top secret faculity, the Torchwood Institute, and she really loved her job. It was exciting and challenging, the pay was very good, and she got to deal with the things she enjoyed the most. Aliens.

You see, the TI was not an organisation like the CIA or the FBI, that dealt with terrorists and other criminals; Torchwood dealt with the aliens. Aliens, who sometimes wanted to invade, enslave or destroy the Earth, but sometimes they only wanted to trade or have a nice holiday here. Anyway, if anything happened, they called Torchwood.

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It was rainy Monday morning, and Rose had nothing important to do, so she engaged herself in playing card games on her computer. She was in the middle of a party of solitaire, when her partner of five years bursted into her office without knocking first, as usual.

„Ever heard of knocking, Sweetheart?" asked Rose for at least the 100th time since the day she first met him.

„Sorry, Love, I was just too eager to inform you about the Sycorax ship, that just entered the solar system," said her partner with mock sincerity. „but if you want, I'll just go out, knock and come in again."

„A Sycorax ship, you say? In that case I forgive you," answered Rose, then grinned to the man, who returned the gesture, before becoming sincere. „You came to fetch me?"

„Yes, the boss sent me,we're meeting the communication officers . We're supposed to go over the welcoming plan the idiots has come up with. They really think they came with peace, and that they don't want to pick a fight with us. I mean, come on, the scans we did showed a lot of weapons on the ship, and I don't think they use them to decorate the place."

„You might be right. I've already met the Sycorax, and they aren't really friendly. Last time I saw them, they wanted to blackmail the Prime Minister to let them enslave the half of the planet, or they kill the 1/3 of the population. They used blood control, so we might want to watch out for that. Anyway, as usual, the Do…, the proplem got solved and everybody went home and lived happily ever after," she said the last part in a rush, because it was still hard for her to talk about a certain two-hearted alien; even after eight years.

„Ah, another mysterious story from the life of Rose Tyler. One day we will sit down, and you will tell me everything about your little encounters, including all the juicy details"

„Yea, right. Now let's go." And with that, she walked out of the room.

On the way to the meeting, she remained silent; she was thinking. The Sycorax brought up her memories about the Doctor, and they were still as painful, as on that beach in Norway.

It was well-known in Torchwood, that on some days Rose was intolerable, she argued with everybody; on other days she started to cry at the sight of alien artifacts. It was unchangeable, so her co-workers's learnt to live with it.

Only very few knew about the real origins of Rose Tyler beside her family. The list of the non-family members consisted only four people. One them was Mickey, the boy she grew up –and for a while were going out- with. He died the previous year in an accident, while saving a girl from getting hit by a car. The second person was Jake, who she hadn't seen since Mickey's accident; the boy was crushed under losing another best friend. The third person was currently walking beside her.

Benjamin Harkness was the son of one Captain Jack Harkness, whose alternate self was one of Rose's best friends in an other life. He was a younger version of Rose's Jack; he literally could talk his way out of every mess. Besides Jack, he reminded her of Adam too. Not the idiotism, but the eagerness to learn. Of course it helped, that he was smarter than an ordinary person. He graduated from college at 21, and after five months, he was working in Torchwood. He was Rose's partner on the field as a doctor – scientist. He learned about the Tyler's secret after an office party, where Rose decided that getting drunk and spilling her secrets to a stranger was a good idea. And it really was. The following day Ben confronted her about the things she said; she denied everything, but he suprised her with another Jack-like characteristic, the ability to make people talk. She ended up telling him everything, even things she didn't share with the others, mostly about the Doctor. After that he become one of her best friends.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts, that she did not notice when they arrived to the conference room, Ben had to elbow her in the side to take notice.

The room had one panorama-window that faced the Thames. On the boring meetings most of the agents were entertaining themselves with counting the ships or the birds in the bay. Rose on the other side has always had her back to the window, she couldn't bear to face the sight. It brought up her painful memories about the War.

There were one-man desks in the room in four rows, three in each one. They arrived early, so they could take the seats that were the furthest from the Director's, the last tables. Yvonne Hartmann was as bad as she was in Rose's universe, most of the workers hated her and disagreed with her methods.

When the door opened, they both looked up to see the newcomers. There were three scientists, a five senior officers and a woman, who usually worked with Rose and Ben, and were also the fourth member of the aforementioned quartett. Violet Black was tall and blonde with strange violet eyes she was named after. She was a geneticist, and enjoyed if nobody understood what she was talking about. She was proud of her job, but hated her boss with passion. She met Rose at the university they both attended; Rose learned psychology (while working at the Institute), Violet biology. After being friends for three years, Rose decided to tell her her secret, right before getting her to work for Torchwood.

After Violet took seat beside them –Ben glared away anybody else who tried to sit there-, Yvonne Hartmann herself came to the room followed by advisors, who immediately started to pass out files about the alien ship. After everybody read over the pages, the Director spoke up.

„As you were informed, today morning an unidentified ship entered our Solar System. We have not encountered this race before, but from the knowledge we got from our allies, it seems that they're the sycorax. The Ptelonians gave us information about them, and they said that we should avoid them, they have enslaved other planets. Well, the others did not have our defences. Here is the plan: we try to reach them and get them to co-operate. If they don't, we will force them to share their technology. All the details we know about them are in the folders. Any questions?"

„I've got one," said Ben, „how do we know, that we have better weapons than them? That plan of yours is built on the possibility, that our bombs are stronger, and that they are really the Sycorax. If they aren't, we will have a ship full of angry aliens, who won't hesitate to occupy the planet or to blow it into tiny little pieces. Maybe it would be better, if we waited for them to make the first move; or at least give us time to figure out what is on that ship.?"

„Dr. Harkness, I can assure you, that Torchwood has an arsenal of the galaxy's most lethal weapons, so if we need to fight, we will be able to win," answered Hartman smugly. „As of letting them make the first step, we have to intimidate them, to get them to co-operate. And no, we will not let them get away with all the technology we could use. Any other comments?"

„Yes. You didn't answer the second question. Are we even sure, that they're the Sycorax? As you said, we have never met them," asked Rose. She was sure, that something was wrong with the ship. As she's already known how it's supposed to look like, so she could tell, that the Sycorax ships wasn't made from that material; these ones were too easily picked up by the satellites.

„Yes. What else could they be?" the director was getting annoyed with those three. Harkness was always arguing with her and made snide comments about her plans; Tyler was a know-it-all, and Black, well she was backing them up. But she couldn't fire them, all of them were too valueable with their knowledge.

„Maybe they're trying to get us to underestimate them. They could just want to make us believe, that they're a race we can fight, while they're much more advanced," supported Violet the idea, but Hartmann ignored her, as always.

„We will contact them in three hours, everybody be ready. Now you're dismissed," said the director and left the room.

From the meeting Rose didn't go back to her office to prepare, if they were the sycorax, she knew what to do. Instead she planned to have lunch with Jackie and her little sister, Lily, in the nearby cafeteria. She was afraid of the subjects (boyfriend, dangerous job ..) her Mum might have wanted to talk about, so she dragged Violet and Ben with her.

On the way to the meeting place they talked about the case. She felt she had to share her concerns with them, them being the only ones she could talk about her experiences.

„Look Ben, I'm sure that Violet is right. In my universe the ships were not noticed until they were really close. They wanted to suprise us and pressure the goverments into the deal. They were the ones to make the connection. They were-i don't know- more professionals," argued Rose „these guys are practically broadcasting that they are coming. I think too, that they want us to believe, that we are the stronger ones."

„Hello! You're in a parallell world. Didn't it occure you, that maybe they're not the Sycorax you've met?" argued back Ben; but he just played the devil's advocate. He enjoyed baiting Rose.

„ No, 'cause almost everything is the same here. the only differences beside Pete and myself were some changes in some people's character, but never a whole race, and I'm here for eight years. Anyways what was the last time I was really-really wrong?"

„There was this time with Jack…."

„I'm never going to live that down, right?"

„No. You tried to befriend my homicidal father and his goons, believing, that he is like the Jack you knew. In your world he might have been a simple ex-Time Agent turned a conman, turned a hero; here he stayed an agent, who was constantly meddling with time, who kidnapped you to get information about Torchwood and what not. He and his men are wanted in 23 solar systems. Do you want me to continue?"

„You shouldn't. We are in the middle of the square. I bet the boss would love, that one of her top agent is in fact not from this planet," said Violet, ignoring Ben's 'try two' comment. „Anyways Jackie is here." And with that, she linked arms with both of them and began to drag them in the direction of the tables.

As they made their way over, suddenly white lights engulfed them, and in the next minute in the place where tables were before, now stood dozens of unrecognizable aliens with weapon-looking objects in their hands; all of them pointed at two suprised agents.

„I so hate Mondays," groaned one of them, before one of the aliens pulled the trigger on the weapon, and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2 the elements of suprise

Chapter two – The elements of suprise

Violet Black being speechless wasn't an everyday sight, but now she was. In fact, she totally froze and took her several minutes to realize what has just happened. Her partners were abducted, more precisely were transported away. When she recovered from her shock, she started to recite all the alien races that had transport or any transport-like technology –the sycorax had it, the vogols were banned from the system, and the garrians weren't that stupid to anger Torchwood. While doing it, she started to run back to the Torchwood-tower, but her attempt – and internal rant – was stopped with a banshee-like scream.

'Oh crap,' she thought 'Jackie.' And with that, she turned to face the Tyler matriarch.

„What happened? They were abducted right? I told her that one day that would happen. But no, she had to do that job. Damn that Doctor, taking my little girl away and filling her head with these things. It will get her killed one day. What will happen now? Have you any plan? How do you want to rescue them? Do som..," ranted Jackie, but Violet cut her off.

„Look Jacks. I'm about to do my job, you are the one who's not letting me go. So please get off me, so I can go and figure out how to get them back. And until that, you should go and find Pete. Tell him what happened, and then go to the safe-house with Lily," said Violet, referring to the underground base where they used to hide the important people during emergencies. They used the place frequently, because being a family member to a Torchwood worker was not a safe thing. They got a lot of threatening letters, and while the most of them weren't serious, there were some rather dangerous ones.

When Jackie still didn't let her go, Violet sighed and turned back to the older woman , and said „I'll do my best, everything will be okay. I'll call you if anything happens. Now go!"

After the promise, Jackie let her go, and Violet hurried back to the tower. When she arrived, the others has already known that something'd happened, they picked up the strange signals from the ship, right before it disappeared. After Violet notified the senior staff about the situation, she was to tell the others about it. The technicians (mostly the physicists and radar experts) and the scientists in the tower immediately set to work, they were searching for ways to find the ship.

After four hours they still didn't find anything. They didn't know if the ship left or just raised some shields. There were no signatures, no changes after the transport beside the signal they picked up. As the ship was last seen near the Mars, they got the permission to use the satellites in the area; they found nothing, and that bothered everybody to no end. Everybody tried to help, even the ones – like Violet- who did not work in the radar department. The geeks of Torchwood were a family, so they were willing to spend hours bending over a monitor and watch it for any change, to save one of them. They scanned everything there, did several tests, but all came back without a useful result. After she went through the files for the sixth time in the hour, Violet got an idea. She called over Andrew, one of the geniuses in the lab. He was a physicist, his best subject were the different kind of shields – what they did, how they worked.

„Look Andy. Don't think, that I'm mental or something, but do we have any test, that can show us the nothing? I mean, not the nothing, but something, that is covered with nothing. Does it makes any sense?" she asked. After hearing Rose's story, she knew about the Daleks and their void ship. While she was sure it wasn't them, the technology may be something similar. And while she didn't understand the way a ship like that could function, she knew Andrew would.

„That can be a lead. Let me see what can I do with your thesis. I'll be back soon," he said.

Not even five minute has passed before he came back, grinning. „You were right. I looked over the scans, and I noticed, that there is absolutely nothing. Normally the space is full of radiation, background noises and what-not, but near the Moon there is a spot, where there is nothing. Brilliant job Violet! Anyways that not only means that we found them, but that they've come closer too. Will you tell the boss, or should I?" asked Andrew.

„Please tell them, I'll call Jackie, I sort of promised her."

„Of course."

A phone call later she was on her way to the conference room. As usual, the Director didn't admit her mistake, she was still sure that the abductors were the sycoraxes (sp?). Altough several member of the staff tried to tell her that the other races said the Sycorax wouldn't have abducted two agents, they would've gone for the ministers, Hartmann ignored them. Violet didn't even bother to try to reason with the Director; she learned the lesson the others didn't: Yvonne Hartmann never admits a mistake, not even when lives depend on it. All the Director was concerned with was the Great British Empire, and her duty to the Queen. She didn't acknowledge the fact, that there was no royal family since the World War Two…

An hour later, when she got back to the labs she bumped into an unfamiliar bloke. He was tall, with messy brown hair and had large brown eyes. He was wearing a blue suit, but instead of a jacket, he had a lab coat on. He was going through the scans they did earlier. When he heard her he froze and tried to hide the object he was holdig behid his back. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought, that it was a sonic screwdriver she heard about from Rose. She turned back to examine the stranger's face, when it hit her. The man was not a new guy or something, he was Rose's Doctor. There was no doubt, she saw him on Rose's pictures. She was happy, 'cause she knew that the man's return would make her best friend happy too. She couldn't wait to tell her, she was about to reach for her phone, when she realized, that Rose was unavailable right now, along with Ben. She snapped out of her musings, when the man cleared his throat; he caught her staring. When he had her attention, he stuck out his hand that wasn't occupied with the silvery object, and said,

„Hi, I'm doctor John Smith from Torchwood three. The boss wanted me and my co-workers to come up and take a look at the readings. So we came, and now here I am. But nobody is here except us, and I heard, that you might have found a solution, but experience might be needed. Do you know what's going on? Will you answer me, or you'll just continue staring at me. It gets a little creepy, when strangers just stood in front of you, doing nothing, just glaring, you know…but that's only my opinion. There are races where staring is a sign of," rambled the man, when Violet cut him off.

„OK, shut up already. You just remind me of somebody, that's all. I'm dr. Violet Black, and yes, I know what's going on. Now let's find your partners, I need to see your papers before telling you anything," she said. She didn't know what to think. At first she was so sure, that he is the Doctor, but now she wasn't. Maybe he was just an alternate self, maybe even a human. She was sure in only one thing, that the man was lying. She decided to play along.

The Do- the man was leading her to the end of the corridor, where he intoduced her to one of his partner, a girl named dr.Martha Jones. She was a physician like Ben, at least that's what she's said. They were chatting about the weather in Cardiff, when she heard somebody coming, then there was a voice she knew too well.

„Hey, Doc. I asked around, but nobody told me anything without showing my papers. These guys are very professionals. In Cardiff I'd have gotten the information in five minutes. Anyway who is your new friend?" asked a guy, who was no doubt Jack sodding Harkness, space-pirate, conman, terrorist.

When Violet turned to face him, he gave no sign that he knew her. That gave Violet the evidence she was searching for. The Jack she knew would've run when he saw her. They've met before, and the man was too experienced to cross his own timeline, so the man before her couldn't have been the Jack she's met on that conference years ago. So this man was an other Jack, probably the one from Rose's universe.

„So again where are you from? Torchwood three from Cardiff?" the three nodded „That's funny. We don't have any office in Cardiff," and with that she pulled out her gun she had to carry, and pointed it at Martha – as much as she knew, she really was a doctor, and that meant that she was the easiest target. The men moved to defend Martha, but Violet stopped them. „OK, new rule. Nobody moves, or i shoot her. Now let's talk about your true identities. You start," she nodded to the Doctor lookalike.

„Ok, but would you, lower your gun? We mean no danger. You too Jack," he said, the last part adressed to the ex-conman, who was reaching for his sonic blaster.

„No," answered Violet.

„Worth a try," shrugged the Doctor wannabe. „And about us, you won't like it. Or even believe it."

„Try me," came the reply.

„Ok. I'm the Doctor. Next to me are Martha Jones, and Captain Jack Harkness. We're time travellers. You've probably heard of me. I'm the reason you have your job," said the Doctor, and the way he was grinning now, Violet could tell, that he was enjoying the whole situation, like Rose said he would. The only thing she didn't understand was, that why the man wasn't asking after Rose. Did he even know that he was in a parallell universe? She wanted to find out, so she said:

„No, you're not."

„Yes, I am," argued the Doctor. „The whole misunderstanding with Queen Victoria. She didn't like time travelers. She even banished me and Rose," and with that information. Her every suspicion was confirmed, so she answered after lowering her gun:

„It's Rose and I. But back to the subject, she wasn't the one who founded the Institute. In fact, we've never had any Queen Victoria. There might have been in your world, but not in mine. Or should I say Pete's world?" And at the end of her sentence, the Doctor's jaw hit the floor. 


	3. Chapter 3 Rose's guide

Chapter three – Rose's guide to the 62th century

A young man in a little cell was waking up. He had a terrible headache, and he wanted to know why. He tried to think about the previous day's events, but he didn't remember drinking anything that could've caused this, so he ruled out the possibility of a hangover. Then he remembered the ship, the aliens and the guns. He slowly realized, that he was in a cell, and the blonde next to him wasn' his girlfriend, but his partner, Rose. She was still out, so he began to examine the place. On the ceiling was some kind of lamp that lit the cell with red lights, and it was very annoying. The walls were metal, and instead of a door, there was a force field. By the looks of it, it shocked the prisoners when they touched it, so he didn't want to try it. When he carefully inched closer to it, he could see the corridor and other cells. But what suprised him was the fact, that the other cells were also occupied, there were several other prisoners, all humanoid. When he looked closer, he realized, that they weren't humanoids, they were in fact humans, probably abducted, like Rose and him. After that he tried to figure out how the field worked, but he had no success. He stopped searching when he heard movement behind his back; Rose was waking up.

„Ouch," she moaned „this was the last time I drank that stuff," she said to noone.

„Good morning Sleeping Beauty."

„Ben? What are you doing in my flat?"

„Nothing, open your eyes," he instructed.

Rose did so, and she froze then said „It wasn't a dream, was it?"

„Nope, we're really in a dirty cell on an unidentified ship," he quipped.

„You really know how to cheer up a girl."

„But look at the bright side. We have company. There are about two hundred other people on this level, if i counted right."

„What race?"

„Humans," answered Ben, but was cut off, before he could continue.

„No, you're wrong. They're not humans, they're freaks. So are you," said a voice that sounded familiar, but neither of them could place it because of the buzz of the force field. They heard footsteps, and a man walked in a front of them. He was rather tall, and was wearing black clothes, with a mark on the sleeve of his coat. It was a red snake curled around a gray sword.

„What do you want from us? If you want to bargain with the goverments, you will be disappointed. They don't make deals with terrorists," spoke up Rose, but the man just laughed, and said,

„We don't want anything, just to destroy the monsters like you. They will be grateful," he said, and then walked away, leaving a couple of guards behind. They could tell, he was not the one who spoke first.

„Bastard. What did he mean? Why would we be monsters? Ben?" she turned to her partner, only to find him staring at the spot the man was standing not long ago. She called his name another two times, and when he didn't react, she slapped his arm. That did it.

„What the hell was that for?" he asked, rather annoyed.

„I was calling your name for a while, and you didn't react. You were just staring. What's the matter?"

„I know who these guys are," he said, and when Rose urged him to countinue, he did „Usually they're called the Brotherhood, 'cause nobody knows their real name. They travel through time and space to kill or enslave everybody, who is not up to their standards. That usually means the half-bloods and humans with genetic mutation. You know, the kind of changes that can be the cause of the evolution. They kill them unless their change can be used. Then they use them for breeding. The non-used survivors are branded as freaks. The aliens, that shot us must've been slaves. Maybe dekrons. Anyway, the ultimate goal of our lovely friends is to create a superior human race, without weaknesses; they want a Great Human Empire to rule the galaxy."

„We should introduce them to the boss. They'd love each other with their obsession to create an empire."

„Yeah. Anyway they're like some kind of intergalactic breeding stock. They believe, that all races are inferior to the humans. Idiots."

„Like death eaters?" at Ben's blank stare, she explained „you know, Harry Potter?" he still didn't react "Live a little."

„You want to give me lessons on 'living'? Miss I-haven't-been-on-a-holiday-for-eight-years?"

„We're getting off-topic. How come you know so much about these guys?"

„Where I was born, they were pretty much accepted by the majority of the population. The leaders didn't dare to side with them, but they looked away. Because of that, the Brotherhood often did jobs for the goverment. Assassination and other stuff."

„Where the hell were you born?"

„Arden, Thygrae system."

„Where?!"

„Don't look so suprised. You always knew I'm not entirely human."

„I know, but I always imagined, that you were born on Earth, in this time frame. When were you born?"

„In 6147. The day is the 3rd of October by the Earth calendars."

„One day we'll sit down, and you'll tell me everything about your life, including the juicy details," she echoed the statement he made earlier that day.

„Yeah, right," he played along. Then with a frustrated sigh, he moved back to the edge of the cell, and said, „I can't understand one thing. What're you doing here? Ok, you're not from this universe, but you're not alien, are you? Altough it would probably explain things, I doubt that Jackie is alien. Pete is surely human, I do his monthly check-ups."

„Of course I'm human. Maybe they picked up the voidstuff on me, or the other thing with the time vortex."

„Probably. But if they're searching for half-bloods and evolved humans, that means, that the majority of the others are alien descendants. Boy, if we get out of here, we'll have a lot of paperwork to do. There are at least 200 of them, and it's just this floor," complained the man.

„As I said, you really know how to make my day better. Anyway we really should get out of here. I don't fancy dying."

„Have any plan? They took away my stuff. No gun, no laser, nothing."

„They took those from me too. But they left this. They didn't notice it," said Rose, pulling an object out of her left pocket.

„How the hell did they miss that? And anyway what is it?" asked Ben, not recognising the silvery object.

„It's, my friend, is a sonic screwdriver. It was a birthday present. After telling stories to Violet, he got the guys in the physic department to make this. And for our captors missing it, my pocket is bigger on the inside," she joked, "Handy little trick, isn't it?" And with that, she set a setting, and began to work on the field. After a couple of seconds, the field dissolved and they were free. „Should we free the others now, or come back later?" she asked.

„Let's come back later. Two is less noticable than 200. If we are fast enough, we can find a computer and figure out how to beam the back to Earth before they notice that we escaped," answered Ben.

They slipped out of their cell without anyone to notice, and began their search. They didn't have to walk long before they came across a room full of computers. Nobody was in the room, most likely because the system was automatic. On the monitors red symbols were flashing, but Rose didn't understood any of it. That fact bothered her, because even in the parallel universe, her connection with the TARDIS allowed her to understand all languages in the universe, except gallifreyan, and by the looks of it, this. She looked at Ben, but it seemed, he didn't have the same problem. He frowned every now and then, while reading the texts.

Finally Rose asked, „Okay, future boy, what do you make out of it? Can you control the transporter from here?"

„Yeah, give me a minute," he said, and then began to type on the keyboard with incredible speed. A couple of minutes later he stopped and turned to Rose. „We have a little problem. I can get the others out, but then we're stuck. The beam is not big enough to cover us too, and i if i don't shut it down, they can just transport them back."

„Are you sure?"

„Yes," he sighed" I say we get them out, then we improvise. We can try to find the emergency transporter, or some other escape route. And we can always hope, that the others down there think out something. What do you say?"

„Let's do it."

„Okay," he said, then hit the button. There was no sound for a minute, but then several angry shouts erupted. There was a sound of an alarm, then they heard the guards coming closer to them.

After the first group of guards passed them on their way to the cells, Rose slipped her hand in Ben's, and said one word.

„Run!" 


	4. Chapter 4  theories and evil twins

Chapter four – theories and evil twins

For long moments the only sound in the room was the ticking of the alien-themed clock on the wall. Three occupants of the room were staring at the fourth member. Their thoughts were racing, though on different routes. The dark-skinned woman, by the name of Martha didn't know what to do. She was happy for their friends, but knew, the return of Rose could mean the end of her travels. The tall man, in the RAF coat, named Jack was doing a mental happy dance. While he flirted with her, it was only to maintain his reputation. He always tought of Rose as a sister. He was devastated, when he learnt she was gone, without a chance of coming back. The Doctor was shocked. When they landed, he didn't even notice, that it was another world, the Tardis wasn't unconscious like last time, in fact, she wasn't even damaged; only refused to move. There were no signs; no zeppelins, in the paper he picked up, there was an interview with the prime minister, not with the president. He was thinking about the other things that might've clued him, when a thought hit him like a ton of bricks. Rose. She was here, a couple of rooms away from him. In the past years he was dreaming about this, their reunion. He planned what he'd say and do, that he'd ask her to come back, he thought up reasons for her to come if she said no. And now, when he could tell her everything he wanted, he found his brain totally empty, save one thought, which he voiced,

„Rose…"

„..is in this universe," finished his sentence Vi. She was watching the three with an amused expression on her face, 'cause she literally could read their thoughts—it was written on their faces. The girl was insecure, the Captain wanted to do a victory dance, and the Doctor looked like he was hit by a truck.

When he heard the woman's voice, the Doctor snapped out of his state, and began firing questions, „How did this happen? How do you know who we are? How come you don't arrest us? Is Rose here? Is she all right? Could we see her? And who the hell are you?"

„My name is dr.Violet Black, and I'm Rose's co-worker. She is not here, but you could help us to find her. I don't arrest you, 'cause Rose'd kick my ass if I got you dissected, and I think you are the one who should know what happened, it's your ship."

„What do you mean we could help you to find her? Is she missing?" asked Jack in a worried tone.

„It's a top secret information, so I shouldn't tell it to strangers without the right clearance, " answered Vi, and continued, when the men opened their mouthes to say something, „but I trust you with this, and I can tell the Director, that I got permission from Pete. But firstly, we should move, we are in the middle of the corridor." And with that, she started to walk back to her office.

The trio hurried after her, and entered her office. Vi closed the door after them, then switched on a strange device. She noticed their looks, so she explained, „It manipulates the security cameras. They will show, that I sit behind my desk, and doing paperwork." After they nodded, she started to explain the situation.

„I'll tell you everything, but please don't interrupt, I'll answer your questions later. Today morning an unidentified ship entered the solar system. The Director, Yvonne Hartmann," the men snorted here, but she ignored, „thought, that they were the sycorax; I trust you know them," they nodded. „Some of us disagreed, but she ignored us as usual, then dismissed us. Half an hour later, two of our agents were kidnapped. One of them was Rose, the other was her partner. Right after that, the ship disappeared. We found it hours later;it's on Earth orbit, and has a very good shield, it absorbs everything, so it was very hard to find. While searching for the ship, we got a report, that another 211 person disappeared , all of them were beamed away, probably up to the ship. That's all we know. Questions?"

„Did you try to reach them?" asked the Doctor, and when he received a nod, he continued, „Do you know what they want?" headshake, „what's the common in the 213 abducted?"

„The agents are questioning the witnesses and looking the missing ones' file up right now, but beside that we don't know everything. The senior staff thought the aliens to be the sycorax, so we still have to find an other alternative. In other words, we barely know anything. And that's why I need your help. Rose always described you as miracle-men, who knows everything about all the races out there. I'll give you all the files and readings. Will you help identifying them?"

The three nodded, but Jack couldn't help but add, „Typical Torchwood London. They create a mess, and expect the others to sort it out."

„Shut it, Jack!" snapped three voice. Martha, Jack and the Doctor all turned to Violet.

„How did you know his name? We didn't tell you," asked Martha

„Parallell universe, paralell Jack," said Violet, then started towards the door. „We are going to the main labs. If anybody ask, you're with me, and Pete Tyler gave the permission," she said to the Doctor and Martha, then turned to Jack, „I'm going to see Pete. You should come with me. Hung your head, so the agents won't shoot you on sight, I will explain everything on the way." And with that, she went out of the room, with the others in tow.

--

After Violet dropped them off, Martha and the Doctor immediately set to work at the desk of one of the scientists. They checked all the files and scans and readings the technicians did on the ship. After the first two pages, the Doctor could tell, that they're not the sycorax. It seemed, that they're a time- traveller race. The shield they used was invented in the late 61th century. The inventors were the Ardenians, but they were all killed in a war against the humans in the early 62th century. After that, the humans took over the ardenian science projects, and sold the new inventions to other races, who were willing to pay the price. Fortunately for the Doctor and the universe, the prices were so high, that less than a dosen race could allow them, and only three of them were using it to conquer, the others bought them for their defence. Out of the three races only one had the technology of time travel, the draconians.

The Doctor swore under his breath. Martha heard it, and asked, „Do you have something? I read this files, but I can't understand the majority of them."

„Yes, I have an idea, but it's not good. It's right a catastrophe. If I'm right, our lovely little guests are the draconians. They travel from planet to planet, kill the populations, and live up the planets savings. After that, they search for another planet, and repeat the whole thing."

„But that means, that we can fight them. Or are they much more advanced?"

„Yes and no. They're very advanced, but they don't use violence to conquer. You see, they're brilliant scientists. They usually create epidemics to kill off the population. They kidnap people –er..life-forms from the planet, infect, then send them back, and wait. When the coast is clear, they go down, and kill the survivors."

„Nice."

„Yeah. But there is the possibility, that i'm wrong. It's an alternate universe, so maybe it's an other race," said the Doctor, but didn't believe it. In his world only the draconians used this method during the whole history; it was unlikely, that they're that different here. That meant, that the abducted people are most likely are already infected, and they can come back in any minute. He stood, and went up to the the nearest scientist in the lab, and asked, „Who's the boss here?"

„You came in with her," answered the man in a very annoyed tone; he clearly didn't like strangers taking over his desk.

„Violet? Oh. In that case can you tell me where can I find the office of Pete Tyler?"

„Top floor, sixth door on the left from the elevator."

„Thanks," said the Doctor, then turned to Martha , „come on! We're gonna meet an old friend of mine, and hopefully we won't run into his wife." And with that, he took off , and Martha had to run to catch up with him. They got into the elevator along with a blonde woman, and the Doctor pressed the right button, without turning around to ask the woman, where did she wanted to go. After the door closed, he turned to Martha. But before he could say a word, he looked at the blonde woman, and he froze. He just trapped himself in an elevator with a very angry-looking Jackie Tyler.

--

While the Doctor was researching, Violet and Jack made their way to Pete's office. When they stepped out of her office, she told Jack to hung his head down, and now Jack was beginning to get annoyed. His neck hurt, and already bumped into six other people.

„Okay. Would you tell me why am I walking like that? It's a little incomfortable."

„I already told you. This way you won't be recognised."

„Why is it a problem? I know I have a paralell self, but it can't be that bad. Right?" noticing Violet's expression, he continued „What is it? What have the other-me done. Screw over the Intsitute a couple of times?"

„ Try homicide, political assassination, spying, murder and terrorism. Oh, and screwing over Torchwood."

Jack stopped walking and with a shocked expression, he said, „You've got to be kidding. I'd never do that."

„Yeah, you. Your evil twin would. He's wanted in 23 solar system," answered the woman, with an disgusted expression on her face.

„Do you know him personally? In the office you sounded like you did. Tell me!" he demanded, then he tempered it with a, "Please?"

Violet stopped, and entered an empty room, pulling Jack with him. She understood Jack's reaction to the news, years ago Rose reacted the same way. She decided to tell him the short version.

„I met Jack Harkness five years ago on a peace-conference. We tried to end the war between Callixus II and Dallia. He was there too, but unlike us, he tried to sabotage the deal. He tried to kill the dallian ambassador, while making it look like a callixian terrorist group was responsible," explained Violet, nodding at Jack's 'shit' comment. „It's not everything. Because he was you, Rose refused to believe, that he is an assassin. He tried to talk to him, and ended up with a knife at her throat. The Captain managed to steal a little ship, and tried to take her with him. We could save her, but Harkness escaped," she finished, and started to walk out

„ It's not everything you know, is it?" Jack called after her, noticing the woman's hesitation at the 'end' of her story. She looked like she wanted to tell something, but wasn't sure she should. „I'd like to know, why would everybody in this tower be glad to shoot me."

Violet sighed, and continued, „The other agent's, -who's disappeared with Rose-, name was dr. Benjamin Harkness."

„Harkness? Is he..,"

„….his son? Yes, he is. He has huge family issues and never talks about his father, but I managed to drag some info out of him. Apparently our Jack is not only an assassin, but a devoted member of the Brotherhood too. Do you know about them?"

„I do. But how can he be a member? I'm not pure human, and I assume, neither is he. Aren't the members pure humans?"

„Looks like they made an exception. With Jack in their club they gained power. You have to understand, that while he is a criminal, Harkness has a lot of supporters. There are a lot of people, who support him and his friends' ways. They don't care about their background and goals, while they're doing what they're paid for. The most of the supporters are the ones who lose markets with peaces like the one between Callixus and Dallia. For example, Dallia used to pay more than the actual price for weapons to the garrians, and for that, they didn't sell anything to Callixus. With the war gone, the prices dropped, and Garr lost a lot of money. They payed Harkness to kill the ambassador, and altough he failed, the garrians still employ him, and sell everything to the Brotherhood for a low price. So the puritists made a good deal. " At the end of her monologue, she stepped out of the room, motioned to Jack to follow and they walked away in the direction of Pete's office. On the way there he was trying to drag more information out of her, mostly about Ben, but she stayed silent. After five minutes, they reached the door, and Violet knocked.

While Pete Tyler wasn't the head of the institute, he had almost as much power as the Director, which irked her to no end. The ministers didn't forget his part in the war against the Cybermen, so Pete became the second highest ranking person in Torchwood. Because he could overrule Hartmann's decisions, the director developed the nasty habit of not informing him about the meetings and other events; that happened that morning too. During a long discusson with the french prime minister, he received a call from his histerical wife about his elder daughter being abducted. He quickly excused himself, and flew back to London. He just arrived back to his office and was on the phone with Jackie again, when somebody knocked on his door. He asked the newcomer to come in, and told Jackie that he had to go. But his wife was a very stubborn woman, and decided, to come to the Institute. He tried to reason with her, but Jackie didn't listen

„Look Jacks. Don't come here, we're doing everything we can……I know Rose is Your eldest, mine too, but it won't solve anything, if you come here.Who will stay with Lily?...I know, that the girls in the safehouse love her, but….." he was cut off, and even Jack and Violet could hear Jackie's screaming about being a mother and that she will go whether Pete wanted or not. „Okay Jacks, I'll be waiting for you. Love you, bye."

After he ended the call and turned to his guests, he was shocked to find himself face-to-face with an intergalactic terrorist in the company of the head of the science department. He was reaching for his gun, when dr.Black started to talk.

„Look boss, it's not what it's like." It was lame, Violet knew, but it bought her some time „He's not the Jack Harkness we want dead, he is another.He is..," she started to explain, but was cut off by Jack.

„My name is Captain Jack Harkness" he was cut off too, by Pete's 'i know who you are' comment. but continued, „No, you don't know me. I'm Rose's friend from the other Universe."

„It's impossible. The Doctor said that he sealed up the gaps. Nobody can cross the void again to enter this universe."

„I know what he said, but we're here."

„We?"

„Yes. The doctor, me and a woman, Martha Jones."

Pete was staring at the man, and Violet choose this moment to back up Jack's story, „It's true. I met the bloke, and I believe them. They know about Rose. The Doctor is in the main lab right now, I gave him the reports to look over."

„Who gave you the permission? Somehow I doubt it was Yvonne."

Violet opened her mouth to give an explanation, but was cut off by a very loud and very angry screech from the hallway.

„DOCTOR"

-- 


	5. Chapter 5 crossing of the ways

Chapter five – crossing of the ways

They ran. From Ben's earlier search, they knew, that the emergency-transporter was near the bridge. Fortunately the corridors were numbered, so they always knew which way was the right. They managed to avoid all the guards with ducking into empty rooms and hiding in other hallways. It seemed that the captors didn't know that they were still onboard. They were halfway to their destination, when Ben suddenly stopped.

„Why did you stop?" whispered Rose.

„There was a noise. Didn't you hear? It was like a the sound of a lightning, followed by thumps."

„I didn't hear anything. We should move." And with that, she continued her way to the bridge, and Ben followed. After two minutes, he stopped again.

„What now?"

„Do you hear anything?"

„I already said no. No sound, because there isn't …," she stopped, then she realised what her partner was thinking about, „no sound. Everything is quiet.That's not normal. We should be able to hear their movements. Something's happened. Maybe Torchwood?"

„I don't know. But everything went quiet just after I heard that sound. Stay here, I take a look," he said, and Rose started to protest, but Ben clamped his hand on her mouth. „Look. It might be a trap. If I get caught, you can always find a way off. The emergency beam is easy to use. It's always dircted to a safe spot, so just press the red button. Now stay, and I'll come back for you as soon as I can." When Rose nodded, he released her, and left her.

On his way to the main corridor, the first thing he noticed was the dust, and the scattered equipment on the floor. Maybe Rose was right, and Torchwood's found a way to rescue them. But that didn't explain the silence. The doors were open he should have been able to hear something. At this point he was almost sure that they were alone on the ship. He silently entered a room, which turned out to be the bridge itself. It was as dusty as the corridors, but when he looked closer, everything immediately made sense. It wasn't dust, it was ash. The ashes of every people on board, save Rose and himself. He made his way to the main console, to find out what could've happened. He picked up a gun, which was probably the property of the captain, and started to type. He found nothing that would explain why the staff's turned into dust. He noticed that one ship was missing from the hangar. When he heard a noise behind his back, he turned and pointed his gun at the intruder; Rose.

„What are you doing here? I told you to stay put! I could've shoot you."

„I was bored," he glared at her, so she added, „I was careful. Did you find anything? Where are the others?"

„You're standing on them." After Rose's jumped off of a bigger pile of ash, he continued, „Something turned our friends into dust. It must've been controlled from an external source, because there is no sign of it in the computers."

„So somebody killed everybody off? How come we're alive?"

„My theory is that the killer turned some equipment, maybe the radio on their clothes into some kind of bomb. When he activated them, everybody with said equipment...well, was fried. I think it was the sound I heard. The lightning sound was the bomb-thingy, and the thumps when the remaining guns and other things hit the floor."

„Anything else?"

„A ship is missing. The killer is gone. He probably went to Earth."

„ We should do that too. We have a man to find," then she added, „How do you know it's a man?"

„It's called brotherhood for a reason, Love. No women are allowed on the ship."

„Smartass," she mumbled, then looked around, "Now get us off of this flying cemetary."

„Ja, mein Führer. Have anybod ever told you, that you have a disturbing imagination?" he changed topic when Rose lifted her hand in a threathening fashion. "The transporter is on the other side of the bridge, come on."

„Anyway where did you send the other people?" she asked on their way.

„To the labs under the Thames. It was emptied a year ago, now they use it to store old files, so don't worry. There is enough room for them, and they won't cause a commotion like they would on a square," said Ben, while typing in the requested coordinates.

„You know, if you sent them to a ..I dunno, a forest, we wouldn't have any paperwork for the next week."

„Too late. We are going to Vi's office, so we won't have to go through the security checks on the way to the boss' office," he explained and when Rose nodded, Ben continued, „ Okay, Torchwood, here we come!" And with that, he pressed the button, and the now familiar white lights engulfed them.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Torchwood tower Jackie Tyler wasn't amused. First his husband wanted to keep her away, then the security guard at the entrance didn't recognise her, and didn't want to let her in. After a long argument, she got past, and hurried toward the elevator. On the 40th floor she got out, and walked toward the other elevator, which only worked when a password was given, and which was the easiest way to get to the 50th floor, to Pete's office. So she was about to get in, when an awfully familiar bloke and an unfamiliar woman hurried past her, without noticing her. She got in after them, and stood in the corner. She was glaring at the Doctor's back with her hands on her hips, while waiting for him to notice her. She didn't have to wait for long. After pushing the button, the man turned to the other woman, but noticed her instead. He froze. They were just staring at each other for long moments; Jackie with anger in her eyes, the Doctor with fear in his. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, the Doctor slowly backed out, and was about to run, when the screech stopped him.

„DOCTOR," screamed Jackie, „move another inch, an' I swear I'll slap that head of yours off ya neck!"

„Hi Jackie! Did you miss me?" he tried to joke, but Jackie didn't found it funny.

„Missing ya? I'll give ya a missin'. D'ya know what 'ave ya done? You broke my little girl's heart. You said goodbye, told 'er you can't come back; and then ya waltz back an' expect us to miss ya? I bet the whole kidnappin' is your fault too. You show up, an' the evil aliens follow. So? What d'ya hav' to say? Huh?"

After the woman's – Jackie's – scream, Martha noticed three people rushing out of an office. She know one, recognised the other, and assumed that the third was the Pete Tyler they were searching for. She turned back to hear the Doctor's question, and stepped towards them when Jackie started to rant; but a hand caught her arm. She turned, and came face to face with Violet, who said,

„Don't interrupt. When her accent comes through, Jacks is very-very angry. And when Jacks is that angry, the possibility of getting slapped is very high."

And in the moment she said that, they heard the sound of the aforementioned acivity, followed by whimpering the noises the Doctor let out.

Then Pete stepped between them, and calmed Jackie down. He told her what he heard from Violet, and that the Doctor is searching for a way to get their daughter back. That did the trick. Jackie stopped glaring, and followed Pete when he motioned to them to go into the office. When they were all seated, Pete said,

„Okay. Now somebody tell me, what exactly happened since you three," he nodded towards the Doctor, Jack and Martha, „entered the building."

Violet spoke up, „I caught the Doctor snooping around the lab. I recognised him from the picture Rose once showed me. I got him to take me to the others, and when we were all together, I confronted them. Apparently they didn't know where they were. After the introductions I gave them basic information about today's events. I dropped the Doctor and miss Jones down at the labs, and escorted Captain Harkness here. You know the rest."

„Good, but dr Black. If you give out top secret information without permission again, you're fired." When the woman nodded, Pete turned to the Doctor, „Did you find anything we didn't?"

„Yes I did. I read the files and the saw the scans, I'm sure they're not the sycorax, but you already gathered that," he said, while rubbing the spot Jackie hit earlier. "What you don't know, that the ship is not even from this time. Fields like that were not invented until the 61th century, at least in my universe. The abduction of the people reminds me of the method of the draconians. They use the abducted people to create epidemics to kill off the inhabitants. As I said, it's not my world, things may be different, but you should get your medics ready. If the aliens send back infected people, they'll have to search for a cure immediately."

„Right. Do you have other tipps who they could be?"

„No. I know three species that have this kind of shield, but only one of them can travel in time."

Pete was about to ask more questions, when he was interupted.

„They're back," said a voice from the door, and when the occupants of the room looked up, they saw dr. Owen Harper leaning against the doorframe. When he saw that they noticed him, he continued, „I mean Rose and Ben"

When the shock wore off, Owen was bombarded with questions. „What happened?" „How did they escape" „Where is Rose?"

Owen choose to answer the last question first, 'cause he didn't know the answer to the first to and said, „She's in the infirmary. She sprained her wrist, Ben's with her"

„Did they hurt her?" asked Jackie and the Doctor in unison

„No, there was a little accident on their way back. Ben accidentally landed her on the stair, she lost her balance, and fell off."

„Where is the infirmary?" asked the Doctor, and when he received the answer, he ran out of the room, while the others watched him with an amused expression on their face. Jackie decided, that she'll let the Doctor speak to her daughter first. After all, she spent eight hours away from her, in the man's case it was most likely years.

„Who is he?" asked Owen, after getting up. The Doctor knocked him down when he ran out.

„The Doctor," replied Jackie, in a suprisingly soft voice.

„The Doctor? Doctor who?"

* * *

The Doctor was running towards the infirmary like the crazy alien he was. On his way he bumped into at least ten other people, but he didn't care, he was going to see Rose. He heard her voice before he saw her. She was talking to someone, probably her partner.

„Did you really have to dump me on the stairs? If you wanted to get back for the 'smartass' comment, you could've just spill super-glue on my chair," she exclaimed.

„For the sixth and last time, it was an accident," he said, but Rose continued her rant, ignoring him.

„I swear, that was worst landing of my life. A blind horse would've parked with more accuracy than you, my dear," she said, and her partner – Bart? - was getting annoyed. His answer came out a little deseperately.

„I haven't seen that language for years, I wasn't even sure that we will arrive in the bloody building. So be happy that it was only the stairs. It could've been the river. Or a middle of a vulcano."

„In that case I thank you, that you didn't off me. But for the records, you have the worst parking skills in the universe."

The Doctor choose this moment to make his entrance, and he said, „But only in this universe. In an interdimensional competition I'd be the winner. Right Rose?"

He watched as Rose froze for a moment, then slowly turned around with a disbelieving expression on her face. When she saw him, the disbelief turned into shock, the shock into joy. And in a blink of an eye he had her in his arms. Almost all the coherent thoughts slipped his mind for the second time that day, so he said the only thing that remained,

„I love you."


	6. Chapter 6  talks and meetings

Chapter six – talks and meetings

When she heard his voice, Rose was sure that her wrist wasn't the only thing she's hit. She must've bumped her head too, 'cause she was hallucinating. She looked at Ben, and was going to ask if he heard the voice too, when she noticed that he was looking at something behind her back. She turned, saw the man, well alien, she wanted to see the most in the past eight years. After realizing that he was real, she got up, and launched herself into his arms. She wasn't going to let go for a very long time, but she heard him saying three words that caused her to jump back.

„I love you."

She was shocked. She knew she loved him, but wasn't sure he returned her feeling. Of course, he loved her, but she was never sure if it was the 'I-love-you-you're-my-best-friend', or the 'I'm-in-love with-you-and-can't-live-without-you' type of love. Hers was surely the latter, but after the events in Bad Wolf Bay she's become sure that his was the former. What else could it be? She declared her love, and he answered with a joke. The Doctor wasn't the type, who'd lie, so maybe he was stalling for time on purpose, so he didn't have to tell her that he didn't feel the same way. So right, Rose was shocked. She was proved wrong. She knew that she should answer, but her mouth didn't co-operate. Well that, and there was the evil part of her wanted him to feel what she felt in the past eight years. Judging the Doctor's expression, her evil plan was working. As she didn't answer, his expression became almost unreadable. There was despair, regret, sadness, and lastly, acceptance. He thought she didn't feel the same anymore, and was ready to accept her decision. At this point, she fought down her inner devil, and said the words.

„Quite right too." She grinned, then continued, „and while it's not my last chance to say, Doctor, I love you too." And with that, jumped back into his arms.

When Rose jumped back and was just staring at him after his declaration, the Doctor really thought she'd moved on. He knew, that he could have had no hard feelings, after all it was eight years for her. But he couldn't help but wonder, if she had anybody in her life. He remembered her partner, who left the room while they were hugging, and wondered if they're together. Rose was bantering with the guy like she did with him. He wanted to be happy for her, really, but the only thing he came up with were several, very painful deaths for the bloke. But then he remembered that he loved her, and wanted her to be happy. If she found the happiness, he will accept it. He won't ask her to leave everything behind, like he always planned. He couldn't continue his musings, 'cause he noticed Rose's expression changing. She smiled, and said the words he wanted to hear. She still loved him. The Doctor felt like a stone was lifted off his shoulders. He took her into his arms again. After a couple of long and happy minutes, he heard her voice again

„When will you finally kiss me?"

The Doctor happily obligated. They got lost in their own world for a very long time again, but then the sound of a slammed door made them return to the reality. They turned to the intruder. In that moment the Doctor realised, that Rose was truly Jackie Tyler's daughter. If looks could kill, the man would've been dead. Her partner seemed to realise that too, and decided to comment on it.

„So, how many painful death did I die in your mind since I came in?" he asked.

„152," snapped Rose, „What do you want?" She was really mad that he interrupted them.

„I so feel the love, partner dearest." He received another glare, so he continued, „Jackie is outside, and I can't keep her there for much more time. So what about you come out, and continue the snogfest after you reassured your mother that you're alive?"

„Okay." She turned to the Doctor, and said „I'll be back in a mo," she kissed him briefly, then started towards the door. When Ben made a move to follow her out, she turned and added, „You should stay in here. Get to know each other with the Doctor."

„Why?"

„Mum'll want to know what happened with my arm. And if I tell her that it was your fault, she'll want to murder you."

„Why do you think, that I didn't tell her already?"

„You're not suicidal." Without waiting for an answer, she was out of the room, leaving the two man alone.

After an awkward silence, the Doctor decided to start a conversation, „Hi, I'm the Doctor. I'm Rose's…" but he was cut off by Ben, before he could say more.

„Rose's two-hearted alien boyfriend-to-be with a time-travelling spaceship. I know who you are. What I want to know is what your intentions with Rose are."

„Isn't Pete supposed to be the one with this line?" joked the Doctor, but when there were no traces of humor on the other man's face, he continued, „Look. I know that I wasn't here in the last years, and You have no reason to believe me, but I can assure you, I'm in love with her."

„Good. 'Cause if you hurt her, I will personally hunt you down, and I'll make you regret that you were even born. Do you understand?"

The Doctor could tell that he was serious, so he nodded without hesitation. Upon seeing that, the threatening expression vanished from the other man's face. He smiled, stuck his hand out, and introduced himself.

„My name is Ben Harknes. I'm Rose's partner."

The Doctor shaked his hand, and asked, „Harkness? Aren't you related to one Captain Jack Harkness?"

The smile disappeared from Ben's face again, and frowned before saying, „Yes I am, and I'd be grateful, if you'd never mention that again."

Before the Doctor could've said anything, the door opened, and Rose came back in.

„Come, everybody went back to Dad's office. Mum wants to talk to both of you" when they didn't move, she laughed and said, „Look at you two. You both fight evil and dangerous aliens on a daily basis, yet you're afraid of my Mum."

„Well, she is way scarier then any alien either of us ever saw. Right?" asked Ben the Doctor while following Rose out the door.

„Yeah. Especially when she's angry. I'd rather fight slitheens, daleks and cybermen in the same time than face her when she is mad at me."

„Did she ever slapped you? I swear it was the most painful experience in my life."

„The sting of the universe. Anyway that was a first to me. Nobody's mother'd slapped me before that."

„While I'm glad that you took my advice, could you stop making jokes about my mother?" asked Rose. When they nodded a little too quick, she sighed and said, „You'll just continue when I'm not listening, won't you?" The two men looked at each other, than at Rose, than at each other again, and finally nodded again. Seeing that Rose just shook her head and went on.

When they entered, everybody was already seated and were chatting, only Jack and Jackie were missing. The Doctor was going to ask about them, when the Director came in; he suddenly understood why the two were missing. She was asking about the newcomers, but Pete fed her with a lie. He said that they're american experts he asked for in the morning.

While they continued talking, the Doctor was looking at the other occupants of the room. Martha engaged herself in a conversation with Rose; no doubt, they were exchanging stories about him. Violet Black was looking extremely relieved, he was gripping Ben's hand under the table, and the Doctor wondered, if they were closer than the others thought. While looking at said man, the Doctor wondered what Ben's reaction will be when he meets the Captain. He hoped, that Jack will keep his quips to himself. He rather felt than saw, that under the happy-go-lucky mask, Ben was an explosion waiting to happen. He couldn't blame the guy. In the last seven hours he attended a meeting hosted by Ivonne 'I did my duty to the Queen and country' Hartmann, was abducted by aliens and escaped them, and now he was back in a room wih the Sataness again. In that moment he remembered the reason they were at Torchwood.

„Hold on! What about the draconians?"

„The who?" asked the confused Rose.

„The aliens. Your captors. Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Usually you don't forget about the ugly evil aliens who kidnap you."

„You're still rude," she said, „They weren't draconians, whatever they are."  
„But they're the only race with that kind of technology."

„They aren't," said Ben, who already knew about the Doctors theory.

„Who did I miss?"

„The humans."

The Doctor mentally slapped himself. He really forgot about the humans. It just didn't make sense. But since when were the humans rational creatures. He snapped out his musing, and listened to the story the agents were telling. Mainly Ben was talking, and the Doctor was watching him closely. He wasn't telling anything. He didn't elaborate, why they were beamed up; he said, it was because they were Torchwood. But that didn't explain, why they left Violet behind. He also said the texts on the ship's computer were english; but when he went to the infirmary, he heard him saying it was a foreign one, and he hadn't seen it for years. Something wasn't right. Then Pete was asking them about any signs that might identify the abductors. It was Rose who answered, and she was talking about a red snake on a grey sword. In that moment everything suddenly made sense. The captors were the members of the Brotherhood. That also meant, that Ben Harkness wasn't human, and he didn't want to share this information with Hartmann. He could understand, if he did, he'd be on the examination table before he could say 'alien'. But that didn't explain Rose's abduction. He made a mental note, to look into that later.

At the end of the meeting Yvonne Hartmann informed them, that a team will be sent up to the ship, and another will search for the escaped killer. She wasn't keen on the latter order. She pointed out, that a man without any help was able to disarm and destroy the attackers, while the top agents were playing hide-and-seek. She also scolded them for not being able to find out, what happened to the other prisoners. What she didn't know was that on Rose's advice they already let them go. Before going to the infirmary, Ben managed to open a video link with one of the consols in the underwater lab. He talked to one of the people in there, and told them how to get out without the security guards noticing them. He made them swore, that they'll forget the day's happenings, unless they want to be locked up in Torchwoods most unconfortable cell.

Ten minutes later the meeting was ended, and the Director left the room.

The Doctor decided, that it wouldn't be good if he commented on the real purpose of the red-snake symbol without talking to Rose first. He catched the other lie about the other prisoners too, and didn't talk about it. At least not with Pete in the room. He was sure, that the man – while not being as xenophob as Hartmann – wouldn't be happy with the lies Rose and Ben told. But he was the Doctor, and he needed to talk.

„So, what now?"

„Maybe you should go and try to fix the TARDIS. You said we can't go back until you repaired some stabilisation thingy," suggested Martha.

„Good idea," he said, then turned to Pete, „Is it all right with you if Rose comes with us?"

„Why do you ask me?" replied the man.

„I don't want to ask Jackie. And if we'd go without permission, she'd come after us and slap me."

„Then you have my permission," said Pete grinning, „Where did you park?"

„In the nearby park." when the Doctor stood up and was ready to go, Rose stopped him with a question.

„Won't you ask me? If I wanted to go?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, and said: „Rose Tyler. Will you honor me with your presence on my way back to my spaceship?"

„Just because you asked so nicely," with that she got up too, and followed the Doctor and Martha. At the door she turned back to face her friends, and asked, „Don't you want to come?"

„No, thanks," said Ben, and Violet shook her head too. Rose was grateful, she knew they wanted she was only polite with the invitation, and that she really wanted to have some time alone with the Doctor. Only that they wouldn't be alone, Martha'd be there. Violet seemed to read her thoughts, because she asked Martha,

„Do you want to see the biology department? I bet I could show you things you'd like to see. Like the new cloning procedure. You could see healthy cloned rats," she looked at Pete, who nodded.

„I'd like to go. I'll go after you in a couple of hours okay?" Martha asked the Doctor, unaware of the main reason of her upcoming plans.

„OK. Come on Rose!" he pulled her out of the room, out of the building, towards the TARDIS. When they got there, Rose pulled out the key she always kept with her, and unlocked the door.

When they entered, they were welcomed with a loud shout, and two glasses of champagne thrusted into their hands. Rose took hers, shoved it into the Doctor's free hand, and jumped into Jacks arms. He spinned her around, then put her down to take a look at her. After giving her a once-over, Jack said,

„You look good Sweetheart. I'm glad to see you."

„ Oh my God, Jack! I thought you died. What happened?"

„It takes more than some homicidal pepper-pots to take me out, especially when you're there to save me," at Rose's blank stare he asked, „Don't you remember?"

„I don't remember what? What's this about, Doctor?" she asked, when he noticed the men's exchanged looks.

„You remember, that you took the vortex into yourself to save me, right?" when she nodded, the Doctor continued, „While it was in you, you not only destroyed the Daleks, but brought back Jack from the death too."

„WHAT? Why didn't you tell me this before?"

„I didn't know. I met Jack again only a month ago," he took a deep breath, and continued, „Which reminds me. I need to make some tests. On you."

„Why?"

„Because the vortex might've done something with you I didn't notice then. I'll answer your questions later."

„Okay."

Half an hour later they were done. The Doctor was checking the results for the fifth time. After that he turned to Rose, and said,

„I've got both good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

„The good one."

„You won't die."

„Ok. What is the bad then?"

„You probably won't die in the next couple of centuries. The vortex became the part of you, and made you immortal." 


	7. Chapter 7  family affair

Chapter seven – family affair

Five minutes later Rose still didn't say a word, and the Doctor was getting worried. He knew, it must've been a shock to her. He wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to say. He couldn't say that everything will be alright, 'cause it won't be. She'll have to see everybody die, and it'll hurt like hell. The curse of the Time Lords became the curse of Rose Tyler. And he really couldn't tell her, that a part of him was about burst with joy. That he was happy, that he will have his forever with her. At that thought he felt like a bastard.

Rose was shocked, altough she didn't know why. The part of her already knew that. The monthly check-ups showed that she isn't aging, but she ignored it. She didn't want to think about it. She was human after all, and humans weren't immortal. She always thought that she will grow old and die as every human. She thought, that in time she will reunite with her family on the other side. She didn't want to accept, that she will be the one who'll have to see everybody die. She was afraid of that. She was startled, when the Doctor touched her hand, and asked,

„Would you like some tea? To calm your nerves?" but behind his words there was an other meaning, 'Do you want me to stay?'

„Yes, thanks." 'No.'

The Doctor exited the room without a word, and made his way to the kitchen. He put the kettle on the fire, and went to search for the tea Rose liked so much. It was from a planet she visited with his ninth self. He was smiling at the memory, when Jack entered the room. He took seat at the table, and asked,

„How did she react?"

„Not good. She wanted to stay alone for a while, so I came to make tea," he answered, „But at least she didn't punch me like you did."

After that neither of them spoke, until a thought entered the Doctor's mind.

„Jack, why didn't you wait for us at Torchwood? And don't tell it was because you came to open the champagne."

„No, I just didn't want to stay there. Too many people wanted to shoot me there," he tried to joke, but the Doctor see through him.

„Too many people, or one specific person," at Jack's silence he continued, „There was this bloke I met. Benjamin Harkness. Is he a relative of yours?"

„He's my evil twin's son. Also the perfect replica of my dead son, and I really didn't want to see him pointing his gun at me."

„I'm sorry."

„Not your fault."

„You don't have to answer, but what happened to him?" asked the Doctor.

„In our universe he was killed at Canary Wharf. After the war on Arden, I took him to one of my friends, Estelle. I met her in the World War II. She brought him up. He went to work for Torchwood. He was killed by Cybermen. He wasn't compatible," he let out a bitter laugh, „I know now, what Rose felt, when you came here first. I want to go and see him, but whenever I think about it, I'm reminded, that he's not my son, and he'd probably shoot me."

„Why would he want to shoot you? And evil-twin?"

„Apparently the other-me is the member of the Brotherhood; and I bet he was the one who killed Ben's family on Arden."

„Are you sure?"

„Pretty much. Violet was talking about this Jack being a devoted member, but she clammed up when I asked about Ben and his family. So I did the math."

„Oh."

„What does that 'oh' mean?"

„Maybe you really should avoid him while we're here," Jack shot him a questioning look, so he said, „The aliens who abducted them weren't aliens. They were humans, and Rose was talking about a symbol. Red snake on grey sword."

„The Brotherhood," said Jack.

„Exactly. The boy was about to explode."

„Good to know."

There was an uncomfortable silence, and the Doctor was about to change the topic, when Rose entered the room. She looked much better, than ten minutes earlier. She smiled at Jack and the Doctor, who were holding their breath, waiting for her reaction.

„So, where is my cuppa?" she asked, and the men were laughing with relief.

After he calmed down, the Doctor asked, „How're you doing?"

„I'm fine. It wasn't really a shock. Ben was telling me for years, that I'm not aging. I just ignored it. It was easier than facing it."

„And are you okay with that?"

„Well, I always said I'll stay with you forever…," she said, with a promise in her voice.

„But it was your human-forever," reasoned the Doctor. He wanted to know how she really felt.

„And now it will be a real one. So get used to the fact, that I'll hang around for a while," she smiled, then kissed him.

The Doctor was about to deepen the kiss, when two things happened. Jack pointedly cleared his throat, and Rose's phone ringed. She picked it up, it was Violet. Her smile slowly changed into a frown. She ended the call, and turned to the Doctor.

„I have to go back. They captured our mystery-man."

„I'll go after you later. I need to repair some things if we ever want to leave this place. Jack, will you help, or go with her?"

„You should come," said Rose, „He knows you're parallel." She didn't have to say who she was talking about.

„Were you eavesdropping?" asked Jack, with a hint of anger in his voice. Then he retought her exclamation and asked, „What do you mean, by 'he knows' ?"

„I warned him about you. Or rather, made Violet warn him. He would've reacted badly, and I didn't want him to make a scene," she answered, „Will you come?"

„Okay, I'll get my coat."

Five minutes later they were at Torchwood. Violet was waiting for them in the hallway, and escorted them to her lab.

„What happened? You said the killer is captured, and I should come back immediately," said Rose.

„Yeah. He is captured, and I called you back, because you'll have two little somethings to do."

„Ok, spit it out."

„The killer. It's Jack Harkness. Our one."

„Shit."

„It's not the end of the story. Hartmann wants to grant him amnesty."

„What? Amnesty? The bloke killed thousends of innocents."

„I know. But he is willing to share his knowledge with Torchwood, and Hartmann couldn't say no to the offer."

„But amnesty?"

„Yeah. He also gave her this speech about being ashamed of himself, and his will to make it up to the world. Hartmann wants you to be there," she said, then in a sugary sweet voice, she added, "As our top diplomat, who can solve anything, and can make the most idiotic life forms see the truth, and who...," she was cut off by Rose's snort.

„Flattery won't get you anywhere. What do you want me to do?"

„Yo need to recton him," when Rose started to protest, Violet cut her off, „Look, I know it's not ideal, but you need to do it. One, he knows about Ben's non-human status. That means, that Hartmann will have him arrested within five minutes. Probably along with the two of us, for helping him. Two, he was on the ship. He knows the reason you were there. That will land you next to Ben in the cell, and later on the Ripper," with the last word, she referred to the table the scientist used to dissect the aliens on a couple of years earlier, before the Tylers. It was named after Jack the Ripper. That did the trick.

„Ok, I'll do it. But the recton might not work. We'll need something stronger to forget the alien-related memories."

„Take these," said Violet, and slipped two red pills into Rose's hand, „They're new. Stronger than recton, and leaves no traces. Oh, and the boss still doesn't know about it."

„You knew, that I'll agree," the other woman smiled, and Rose changed topic, „How did Ben react? I guess, he is the second reason."

„Actually the third. First was Hartmann's request, the second was the recton. Anyway he is not in the best of moods. I tried to talk to him, but he just walked away."

„Where is he now?"

„I don't know. After the team brought Jack in, he disappeared," she didn't say it out loud, but there was a second meaning behind her words, one that she didn't want to voice in front of Jack.

„If you want to find him, maybe we could help," said Jack. He was listening to the conversation, and realized, that under the nice blond girl images, these women were trained Torchwood agents. In three minutes, they worked out a plan, got the things they needed, and were ready to strike.

„Thanks Jack, but you shouldn't be here. Hartman'd just love to have two Jack Harkness," answered Violet.

„Sorry, that I dragged you here for nothing," said Rose. Jack answered, that it was nothing.

After saying goodbye, Jack was going back to the TARDIS when an idea occured to him. He turned back, and went to the elevators. He went up to the 40th floor, and climbed the stairs to the 50th. He got out to the top, and looked around. Then he saw what, or rather who, he was searching for.

Ben was sitting on the ground, a cigarette in one hand, a stack of files in the other. He gave no sign of noticing him. Jack didn't know if he should just call Violet, or he should talk to the guy himself. He didn't have to choose, because Ben spoke up,

„I don't care if you stay or leave, but could you close the door? I don't want more people coming up," he said without looking up from the files.

Jack did what he was told, and closed the door. Then he walked up to Ben, and sat next to him. They were sitting in silence, one smoking and reading, one enjoying the sight, but after a while Jack got bored of it. He turned to the younger man and asked,

„So, what are we doing here?"

„I'm sitting and reading. What are you doing here?"

„Violet is searching for you. I volunteered to help. She is worried." It wasn't the whole truth, but Jack thought that it didn't matter.

„Ok. But that only explains, why you came. But why are you here, next to me, now?"

„I thought you could use some company."

„You were wrong," snapped Ben, „Couldn't you just sod off?"

„No," then after some hesitation, he asked, „What happened between you two that caused you to hide from him?"

„Oh, I understand now. Everybody down there thinks that I took off to drown my daddy-issues into alcohol. Right?" he was trying to change the topic, and it seemed, that it worked.

„Well, yeah." Violet didn't say it, but Jack understood the meaning.

„And I'm not hiding. I'm just waiting for the explosion," he answered.

„Explosion?" Jack was confused.

„Yup. My father isn't the type who gets himself captured that easy." Jack had to admit, that if this other-him was anything like him, he was planning something.

„You think he let the team capture him. What do you think, why?"

„Shouldn't you be the one who knows the answer? You're him."

„No, I'm not. So, what do you think he wants?"

"I don't know yet. These," he gestured to the files he held, "are the most valuable thing we have in the building right now."

"Like what?"

"Mostly weapons. Some viruses too. And a couple of time travel thingies."

"Time travel thingies? Aren't you a scientist?" he joked. It was frightening, how easily he could forget that he wasn't sitting with his own son, just an alternate version. Maybe it was a family bond thing. Jack mentally shrugged, he didn't really care.

"I'm a doctor. These are not my kind of things."

They sat in silence again, but it wasn't uncomfortable, like the previous. Jack broke the silence,

"And aren't you afraid that Hartmann will figure out that you're related to her prisoner?"

„Not really. One, even if Jack knows that I'm here, he won't tell her. If he plans something, I'd be an obscale. Two, I have papers, They say that I was born in London in 1992. And Pete won't let her question me anyway, because he's known me for eleven years."

Jack was suprised. After the bumpy start, Ben was shockingly open about his concerns, and even told Jack things about his past. Then he realized another thing. He steered the coversation away from his relationship with his father, with giving Jack minor details about himself. The boy was good. He was about to ask the questions again, when the sound of the alarm cut him off.

"Showtime." 


	8. Chapter 8  lockdown

Chapter eight – lockdown

Martha was happy. She was sure that she died on her last adventure, and now was in heaven. In the scientist heaven. The Doctor and Jack often said that the Torchwood-people were smart, but she always thought, that they're just a bunch of geeks who just copy the stolen technology, and use them to blow up spaceships on Boxing-day. She underestimated them. Violet took her to the labs in the basement, where they tried out the new inventions. She told her, that this Torchwood isn't working for itself only. From time to time they let useful devices on the market. Now she was wandering between the labs with the security card Violet gave her. The other woman got a phone-call earlier, and had to go back to her office. She was about to go back too, when the alarm went off. She made her way to the elevator, when she bumped into Jack.

„Jack! It's good to see you. What happened? Violet left me here half an hour ago, and I don't know what to do. Should we go out? Or stay here?" she asked in a rush.

„I don't know what happened, but Black sent me after you. She said we go in one of the labs and stay low while they sort out everything," and with that he dragged her into into one of the labs. Before entering, took out a device out of his pocket, one that looked like the camera-manipulator in Violet's office. He noticed her looking, so said,

„It masks my features, so they won't attack me," at her nod he activated the machine, and in the place of Jack now stood a blond, blue-eyed man. They entered the room, and the occupants reached for thei guns. Jack was faster, and he pulled a psychic paper out of his pocket. He showed them and said, „No need for guns. Dr. Black sent me, to stay and guard the room from the intruders, that might attack."

The scientists relaxed, and went back to do the things they did, before the interruption. Jack began to walk around the desks, asking them, what they're working on. They answered him, and some of them even explained how the devices worked.

When he reached the last desk, the occupant took no notice of him. Or with other words, totally ignored him. It angered Jack. He pointedly cleared his throat for four or five times, and the man was yet to look up. He spoke,

„What are you working on?"

„A secret project. Sorry, I can't tell you more," the man answered.

„I have a clearance from dr. Black. She sent me to protect you, so I think, I should know, what's going on here."

The other gave in, „It's a very powerful explosive. It can destroy any kind of shield we know about, leaving the ship or any other object unprotected."

Martha found the questions a little strange, but didn't comment on it. She knew by know, that Jack can be unpredictable. What she didn't notice, was the disturbing gleam in his friend's eyes. However, Brynon, the physicist noticed what Martha missed, and slowly lowered his left hand onder the table. He ran his fingers over the metallic surface, until they reached their destination. He pressed the button he found there.

A couple of floors away an alarm went off.

* * *

  
After saying goodbye to Jack, Violet went back to her office, hoping, that Ben might be there. He often popped in during the day, sometimes to talk about the mission details they were to go on, sometimes just to chat. After not finding the man there, she went to the labs on the 15th floor. The files were still lying discarded on the desk, due to the Doctors earlier search. Her collegues on that floor noticed her, and immediately began to interrogate her about Rose's and Ben's well-being. After reassuring them that they were fine – tough rather impatiently,'cause she was more than a little annoyed by the recent events - , the elder scientists went back to their work. But the younger ones just didn't understand, when they were dismissed. Of course, it was only one reason. The other was the fact, that they all had a crush on either Rose, or Ben. Or on her, and just wanted a reason to talk to her. It was annoying.

„Look guys. I told you all I know, so would you mind leaving my desk, and letting me do some actual work? I'd recommend the same for you," when they didn't move, she sighed, and decided to use an other tactic. She leaned forward, and in a rather rude tone, she said, „Fuck. Off. Now." It worked, and they all went back to their desk, but not without sending glares and insults in Violet's way. After a 'she needs to get laid' comment she made a move, to give a girl a piece of her mind, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She whirled around, and came face to face with the Doctor.

„Hello. I hope I didn't interrupt anything important," he said as greeting, while grinning.

„You just saved Claire from a slap in the face."

„Yep, that's me. The savior of the innocents. I'm there, whenever they're wrongfully accused of something, or enslaved, or kidnapped, or threathened by an evil wench," here he noticed the glare Violet sent his way, so he corrected himself, "A beautiful, gorgeous, misundertood, and not-really-evil, but rightfully angry female, who has the…"

„Ok, enough. Has anybody ever told you, that you talk way too much?"

„Yes. In fact, exactly 326 people told me that. The funny thing is, that 213 of them was in my current regeneration. The first was of course Rose. She said it after….. Ok, I get it . Too much. I'm shutting up now."

„Anyway what are you doing here? Shouldn't you meddle with your ship right now?"

„Been there, done that. She's good, as new. I came after Rose. Where is she?"

„She's interrogating the prisoner. Jack Harkness,"at the man's alarmed look, she added, " I mean our one. Yours has gone back to the TARDIS."

„He didn't arrive."

„Well, he departed abot ten minutes ago. I'm sure, he wasn't captured, I'd know about it. So he either sidestepped you on the way to the ship, or he ignored me, and went after Ben."

„The latter sounds like Jack."

Violet was about to make a comment about that trait being genetic, when the lights suddenly flashed red, and the alarm went off.

„That's Code Red," she said, „That means, there is at least one intruder in the tower. Or more specifically on the 35th floor, where the cells are. "

„Let's have a look at it," he grasped her hand, and pulled her out of the lab.

They rounded the corner, and were making their way to the elevator, when they bumped into Rose, who was holding her head, blood slipping through between her fingers. The Doctor was immediately at her side, prying her fingers away, to be able to look at the wound. Meanwhile the also worried Violet asked,

„What happened? I thought, you were on the cell floor with Harkness."

„I was. Who do you think our intruder is?" answered Rose, while the Doctor was scanning her wound with his sonic screwdriver. Seconds later he was finished, and the wound was healed. „Thanks"

„No prob," he answered, „But how did Jack – I mean Harkness….this is confusing – escape? I thought, that Torchwood is secure."

„It is. He had help from one of the guards. I think his name was Flicks or something like that," said Rose, „He hit me with the barrel of his gun, then freed Harkness."

„We have to find them. They must be still in the building, 'cause all the exits are locked down, due to the alarm," urged Violet, „I'm going down to the basement labs. If I were Jack, I'd go there, 'cause Torchwood keeps the most valuable inventions and devices there. You two should go and find the Chief of Security. He can give you access to the security cameras, which could help find the guys."

„No, we're coming. If Harkness has helpers and they're in the basement, you'll need help to catch them. Not to mention, that you brought Martha there," reasoned Rose.

„Shit, I forgot her."

„So, what are we waiting for?" asked the Doctor, „We have a damsel in distress to save!" he ran to the lift, and pressed the button, „On the way there, you could tell us what happened, Rose."

When the elevator came, they hopped in, and Rose started her tale.

_Flashback_

After leaving Violet, Rose hurried to the 35th floor, to meet the Director and the prisoner. She was afraid of the confrontation, even after Violet's words, that the man has no interest in telling Hartmann about her…condition. She wasn't afraid only because Jack was unpredictable ,but because it was Jack as well. Right, it was only the evil counterpart of his friend, but it was hard to remember that, when the man was pulling her Jack's charming tricks.

When she arrived, the boss was already there, waiting for her. „Finally you're here Agent Tyler. I sent dr. Black after you about fifteen minutes ago," she said, clearly irritated.

„I'm sorry. I was out to buy some dinner, and I forgot my phone on my desk, so dr Black couldn't find me in time," answered Rose.

„Next time bring your phone with you,"then she changed topic, „As you already know, the extra person on the ship was Captain Jack Harkness. We captured him half an hour ago, and because of his help against your captors, we brought him in, instead of shooting him on sight." Rose fought the urge to roll her eyes. Hartmann said this part, like she would've had the Captain killed in another situation. No, even if he was captured during sightseeing, she would've had him dragged in for information. „I asked for you, because your skills could be useful. Go in, and make him talk to you. I want to know everything, from his favourite colour to his preference of underwear,"she ordered, „I can't be here, I have to inform you father about the recent events. Good luck, Agent Tyler. Flicks will go with you, to make sure you're safe."

Two minutes late Rose entered the room, and sat in the chair that had its back to the mirror. She noted, that it was very uncomfortable. She thought, that it might be a new interrogation technique. The prisoner has to confess if he/she ever wanted to get out of these horrid things.

She was snapped out of her musings by the sound of the door opening. The guard Hartmann assigned to her led Harkness to the other chair, and cuffed him to it.

After Flicks left, Rose started speaking, „Good evening. My name is Rose Tyler, and I'll be your contact. In order to get the amnesty you were offered, you'll have to answer all my questions. Is there anything you want to know before we get started?"

„Yes. How come you're here, if you were on the ship, earlier this morning? Isn't it a little contradiction?" he asked, clearly enjoying the sight of the angry Rose.

„My presence at Torchwood doesn't concern you, so I'll take that as a 'no'," she answered. She didn't like the situation. She entered the room a minute ago, and he already threathened her, tough not openly, „Let's start with the easy questions. What's your name?"

_„You already know that, Sweetheart," he answered, „After all we have already met. We even have a common friend," he said, meaning his son._

„Where were you born, and when?" she asked, ignoring his quips.

„A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...," he answered.

„It's not the right time to quote Star Wars," she snapped, then tried an other approach, „Why were you on the ship, and what the hell do you want here?"

„That's my secret."

Rose was about to make a very rude comment, when she heard somebody moving behimd her back. She also noticed, that Harkness's gaze is on something behind her, so she turned around. The last thing she saw was Flicks with a gun in is hand before everything went black, for the second time that day.

End of flashback

„That's everything I remember. After waking up I sent a message to the Director and Dad, then came to find you," said Rose.

Right after finishing her sentence, the elevator doors opened. They stepped out to the empty hallway, and walked into the first lab. The scientists there didn't notice anything strange, so they came out, just to bump into arriving Ben and Jack.

„I guess you heard the alarm, you came to the same conclusion as me," said Ben as a greeting.

„If you mean our favourite Captain, you're right," answered Violet, „I sent a message to the boss, but we thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Care to help?"

„Yeah," said Jack, but he was cut off before he could continue.

Somebody at the end of the corridor screamed. 


	9. Chapter 9  hide and seek

Chapter nine – hide and seek

Jack whirled around. The mini-computer on his wrist was programmed to sense the energy signals in the room. In the minute dr.Brynon pressed the button, he knew about it. Maybe it was time to the next phase. A little sooner than he expected, but it didn't bother him. He's always had a plan B. He turned back to the scientist.

„What give me away," he asked in a cheery voice, „Was it the questions, or Black'd never send a newbie to guard this floor?"

„The senior staff and the field agents are all trained to recognise physic paper," answered the man, his voice shaking slightly.

Martha was confused. What was Jack talking about? She wanted to clear the things up, so went up to the man and asked before he had the chance to continue Brynon's interrogation.

„Jack? What's going on? Is there somethingI should know about?"

„Actually there is," said Harkness, pulling a large gun out of his coat pocket, and pointed it at Martha, „I neither know, nor care about who are you, but move another inch, and I'll shoot you."

„Jack, what…" then it downed on her, „You're the other one."

„The other what?" he asked suspiciously, then, „Never mind, I'll deal with you later." He turned back to the other scientists, „As for you, good night," he pressed a button on his gun, and a red light emitted from the end of it. Everybody in the way of the light dropped on the ground, knocked out. He turned back to Brynon, „Now, where were we? Right. You were telling me about the activation of that blaster."

„No, I wasn't. I won't let you get your dirty hands on it. The guards are already on the way, you have no way out," he pulled out his own gun, and pointed it at Harkness.

„Oh, the little geek is playing hero. Well, I can't let that," and with that, Jack shoot Brynon in the head. The doctor dropped on the ground, and soon a pool of blood began to form around him.

Martha screamed.

* * *

  
Meanwhile outside everybody froze. All of them were thinking the same thing. Who was that? Why did she scream? Is she still alive? Is Harkness there?. The Doctor and Jack were coming up with excuses in their minds, like 'The scream doesn't mean, that it was Martha' or 'It might be another technician'and 'Maybe a rat is on the loose in the labs and a woman over-reacted it'. Rose, Violet and Ben weren't that optimistic. They knew, that no women were working on that level, and there was no chance of other reasons. Finally Rose voiced what everyone thought.

„Martha," she said, „We should get going. The scream came from there," she pointed out the way and started to walk in the direction.

They hurried after her. They passed several doors, all of them were locked, only security cards could open the doors (or a sonic screwdriver, the Doctor thought, but he wasn't allowed to prove his theory). The Torchwood trio checked in every lab on the way, making sure, that everything's alright. In every lab, they got the same answer. Nobody entered or exited since the lockdown. Soon they reached the last door. They immediately could see the problem with it.

„It's locked," pointed out Ben.

„We already gathered that. Let's move," quipped the Doctor.

„No. I mean, it's locked. But not by the system. Somebody locked it, from the inside," answered Ben, already working on the lock, trying to open it.

„Oh. Let me try," said the Doctor, already pulling his screwdriver out.

„Don't!" ordered Violet, then she explained, „It's not a simple lock. If you try to open the door with force, or false card or a sonic screwdriver, it will send a message to the security, who will have your arse arrested in forty seconds. I know, I tested it."

„Forty seconds?" chimed in Rose, „I almost got in when they caught me. All I missed was to reach for the knob."

„Amateurs," said Ben, without turning his attention away from the lock, „I got in, liberated Brynons laptop and got out without anyone noticing it."

„You're ardenian. You don't count," added Jack.

„You're ardenian? I totally forgot. You soooooo have to help me tinker with the TARDIS," said the Doctor, then he noticed that not everyone follows his line of thinking, he added, „Ardenians can control mechanical things, like some kind of mind control. With other wors, they're technopaths."

Before he could continue, the lock gave out a quiet beep, and Ben announced, „It's open."

When he pushed the door open, it revealed an empty lab. He went in first, and soon stopped, motioning the others to follow his example. He pointed to the left, and the others noticed five unconscious technicians. On further investigation they found the dead body of Brynon. Ben crouched down to search for a pulse.

„He's dead. Shot in the head by a sonic blaster. Sounds familiar?"

„His work is also gone," said Violet, who was examining the scientist's desk, while the others were trying to wake the other technicians, „Do you know what he was working on? Looks like nobody bothered to tell me, altough I'm the head of this bloody department," she fumed.

„Chill, Vi," tried to calm her Ben, „He was working on the shield breaker Carlei brought back from his latest mission. And the Director wanted to keep it in secret, 'cause it's stolen."

„Torchwood almost always steals the technology. What's the diference now?" asked Rose.

„Carlei stole it from the ptelonians. So it's top secret."

„They're allies," said Rose, then something occured to her, „How do you know about it?"

„This way," said Jack, showing them the stack of files Ben was reading on the roof, before he shoved them into his hands while he was picking the lock.

„Are those the 'top secret' files?" asked Rose, but she was cut off by the Doctor, before she could continue.

„While you were chatting I checked the security cameras. It seems, that the guards won't come for a while. The whole floor is locked the same way the door was. They can't get through."

„Did you find Martha?" asked Jack.

„Yeah. And it's not good. While Ben was picking the lock, she was teleported away," he said, then turned to the Torchwood band, „Has your Harkness had a plastic surgery? 'Cause either the bloke dragging Martha isn't him, or he has an appearance manipulator with him."

„Must be the latter," answered Rose, „Fifteen minutes ago he looked normal"

„Can either of you trace them? Or find the point they transported to," asked Violet, turning to Jack and he Doctor.

„I'm already on it," answered Jack, while furiously typing on his wrist-computer, „I've got them. The place is a run-down hangar in Cardiff. The area is full of empty warehouses. Perfect to place to hide."

„We have to get there. Soon," said Violet, and reached for her phone to call Pete, to alarm the special-ops. But before she could dial, Ben caught her wrist, and pulled her phone from her grasp, „Hey! What're you doing?"

Ben didn't answer her, instead he turned to Jack and asked, „You were a Time Agent too. Do you have your vortex manipulator?" when Jack nodded, he continued, „Give it to me."

„It doesn't work. Not even the Doc could repair it," he said, handing it over.

„Because it's a good for nothing, unrepairable…er….space hopper," mumbled the Doctor, and Rose had to stiffle a laugh at Jack's hurt expression.

„Boys and their toys," she sighed, smiling.

The Doctor was about to answer her comment, with pointing out her obsession with the pink color. But he couldn't talk, 'cause he was cut off by a loud conversation.

„What the fuck do you think you're doing?" asked Violet from Ben – or more like screamed at him.

„What does it look like?" came the calm reply.

While the others were teasing each other, Ben took the vortex manipulator and Violet's phone to the nearest desk, took them apart, and started to switch the parts. It looked like he built the phone into the device, save some parts. However Violet saw it from another angle, so she answered.

„It looks like you killed my phone. Again," when the man didn't react, she continued, „It's the third in this year. And it's only April. Why don't you use your own."

„I don't have one," answered Ben, then turned to the others, „It's done," he held up the transporter, then passed it to Jack, „I replaced a couple of things in it, so it'll be a one-way trip."

Rose and Jack were grinning at the Doctor, who looked gobsmacked. He knew, that he will be the subject of lot of jokes, when the emergency was over. He wanted to save some of his dignity, so he held out his hand, and said,

„Pass the thing to me. I can adjust it, so we'll arrive there about twenty minutes ago. That will give us enough time to set up a trap to Harkness, and get our friend back."

„Are you sure you can do that?" asked Rose, „Maybe you could leave it to Jack. That way we won't end up there a year later, or in a different galaxy…" she grinned.

„You're right Rose, but there is a little problem," said Jack, „After Ben's meddling, I have no idea how to make it work. So, it's up to you," he gave the device back to his almost son.

Said almost son rolled his eyes, and began to type the coordinates and the time into the transporter, „Done. On three we're on our way. Ok?"

All of them nodded, and the Doctor spoke, „You sure you want to come?" he addressed Violet.

„Yeah. One, I'm a trained field agent. Two, there is no chance in hell, that I stay and face the Sataness alone. So, on three?"

„Come closer," instructed Ben, and they did so, „One, two, three," and he pressed the button.

The vortex opened behind them, and they were sucked into it. Moments later the journey ended. While the men were able to remain on their feet, Rose and Violet weren't that lucky. Both of them were thrown on the ground, and they landed with a loud thump. Violet was the first to speak up,

„Ok. I'm never doing that again," she said.

„Same here. I just realized how much I love the TARDIS, even with the Doctor's driving and landing skills," said Rose, getting up.

„Oi. I'm still here you know," said the Doctor, but Rose ignored him.

„Is this the good place and time?" she asked her partner.

„Yeah. 18:12. Twenty minutes befor we left. Harkness and Marsha,"

„Martha," corrected the Doctor.

„Martha will arrive in fifteen minutes," finished Ben the sentence.

„There are containers on both side of the hangar. We can take cover behind them, then suprise the evil-me," suggested Jack, „You," he pointed to the Doctor, „and Rose could go behind the blue ones," he motioned towards the containers on the right side. „Ben and Violet behind the ones across you on the left side. I'll go to the front, and secure the exit."

The addressed four nodded, and moved to take up their positions. Jack sent a silent prayer to anyone who's listening up there, and hoped that Martha didn't tell her captor that she's from a parallel world, and she knows his other self. That would muck up the rescue plan. If Harkness knew about him, the man probably would know about the vortex manipulator too. With that information in his possesion Harkness would expect them. He quickly finished his prayer and moved to take up his spot.

Behind their cover the Doctor and Rose were talking. They figured out, that they need to catch up on each other's lives, and now they had fifteen minutes to do so. It wasn't much time, but at Bad Wolf Bay they learned to appreciate every second.

„How long have you been travelling with Martha?" asked Rose.

„About six months. Jack joined about three weeks ago. Martha and I accidentally travelled to the end of the universe, and when we stepped out of the TARDIS, we foud Jack lying on the ground. The idiot was clinging to the door while we traveled through the vortex," he remembered.

„What happened then?"

„We found another Time Lord. Don't get your hopes up," he said, noticing Rose's happy expression, „He was the Master, I already told you about him. Anyway, he ended up killing a big part of the population, with the help of the Toclafane. He created them from the last humans. He even cannibalised the TARDIS, so she became a paradox-machine. Then Martha and Jack saved the day with spells and well-placed bullets. They reversed time. The Master died; he refused to regenerate," he finished his tale.

Rose sensed that he didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she changed topic. „Wow. You certainly had interesting years. And here I thought, that my life was complicated," she joked.

„What happened with you?"

„The first three years were hard. After I got my A-levels, I went to college. Psychology major. I met Violet there. I almost left after my third year, 'cause I was working for the Institute too, and I hardly could keep up with my studies. I got Ben as a partner then. He was fresh out of college, and knew what I was going through. He and Violet practically pushed me through my last year. Vi helped to study when I was home, and collected notes for me when I wasn't. Ben tutored me in everything he could, quizzed me. Sometimes, when I had a big test, he wrote my mission reports. Hartmann was delighted; she thought the similarities between his and my reports were because we work so well together," she laughed at the memory.

„Sounds like they're good friends."

„They are," she answered, „Anyway I graduated with honors. I continued at Torchwood, in the diplomacy department. I solved conflicts, prevented war and oversaw treaties. A year ago I was promoted, so I'm the head of the department now."

„Wow. You made quite a life for yourself. I'm proud of you," he said, trying to cover up his other feelings. Namely his selfishness. She had a good life here, and he wanted to ask her to leave it behind. At that he felt guilty, 'cause he knew, that she'd do it. She'd leave everything she accomplished behind, not to mention her family and friends. His musings were cut short, because Rose spoke again,

„I know what you're thinking. That I'll have to leave everything to go with you," he didn't dare to meet her eyes, so she cupped his face with her hands, and forced him to look up, „Don't feel guilty. Even after our goodbye I hoped You'd come. I knew, that this moment might come, 'cause I believed that you'll find a way. I said it once, but I can repeat it. I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you," she smiled at him, „Of course, only if you'll have me."

„Forever."


	10. Chapter 10  end of an era

Chapter ten – end of an era

While the Doctor and Rose were talking, across them a similar conversation took place. The only difference was that here Violet and Ben weren't sharing life stories. They were talking about the future, or in their case, the lack of it.

„So, we're screwed, right?"asked Violet after she got bored with the silence at their hiding spot

„Pretty much, yeah"answered Ben, then after some time he added „Hartmann is not a complete idiot. She must've checked the security cameras of the labs. That means she knows that we left the building with one Jack Harkness. She'll assume that he's the prisoner, and we're with him. I'm sure that by now she has a permission to arrest us."

„Maybe we could explain her about this Jack being a parallel one, and the prisoner is the one she wants"she wondered aloud

„You really think she'd listen? She hates us. If we tried to explain the situation, she'd charge us with not only helping Harkness, but with letting strangers into the building, not notifying the senior staff about them, and with that endangering the national security. Then there is the fact that two of the mentioned three are aliens. Not even Pete could stick up for us."

„You forgot, that if she saw the tapes, she probably knows about about your relation to Harknes too, not to mention she must've heard the Doctor's ardenian comment too."she said, giving up the hope, that they'll get out of the mess ever.

„Yeah, that too."he said „We really are screwed."after some silence he asked „Do you think we can get cells next to each other?"

Violet laughed quietly „Idiot. And even if we could, I don't think we'd see or hear each other that much. I bet the Boss already has plans how to use you. She could fire the hackers, a couple of technicians."she trailed off, still musing

„Oh, no. The hacker guys already hate me for the stunt I pulled with Brynon's laptop."he exclaimed with mock sincerity

„Now be serious. What're we gonna do?"she asked, changing her expression from carefree to sincere.

„I'm not sure. We could go back to Torchwood and say we forced you to cooperate, but then you captured me. Then at least you'd be off the hook."

„No way."she replied immediately

„Ok. Option No.2 is that I could round up some old friend who owe me."he said, then nodded when Violet asked if he meant alien friends.

He was going to mention more options, but didn't have the time to do so.

Harkness and Martha arrived

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

„So,"began Harkness. „Before we were rudely interrupted by that unknown lock-picker, you were going to tell me what you meant by 'the other one'."

„I wasn't going to."she channeled his inner Brynon, hoping that she wasn't going to share the scientist's fate

„You're feeling brave too? Tsk, tsk"he taunted „Didn't you learn from the geek? Maybe I have to refresh your memory "

Martha shut her eyes, and waited for the pain to come. 'Cause it's going to hurt. She was sure, that Harkness was going to shoot her in the leg, or arm or any other place that's painful, but fairly harmless. After all, he wanted the information she could offer.

When she heard the sound of the fired gun, but didn't feel the pain, she dared to open her eyes. She was greeted by the sight of the grinning Jack Harkness.

Standing over the still form of an other Jack Harkness.

„Hello"he said, and as soon as he finished, Martha flung herself into his arms, and hugged him tightly

„Are you really you?"he heard her question, muffled by his coat, which Martha buried her face into.

„Yes sweetheart, it's me. And look who did I bring with me"he joked, motioning towards the others.

Martha slapped his arm lightly, then turned to the Doctor exclaiming „What took you so long"

„So long? You spent what? Twenty minutes with him?"he answered, slightly offended, then said „Sorry. Must've been a long twenty minutes"

„It was."then she motioned towards the shot conman „Is he dead?"

„No, just unconscious."answered Rose „Now that you mention it, maybe we should tie him up"when Jack and the Doctor moved, she added „And don't forget to take away his guns"

They did as Rose said. They searched every pocket they could find, first on his coat, and they found so many, that it was easier to strip him. Five minutes later the conman had nothin, except a T-shirt and his boxer shorts on. When they were done, they searched their own pockets to find anything to tie their prisoner up.

„Here"Ben spoke up for the first time since Harkness' capture. He was holding two pairs of cuff-like things in his outstreched hand

„EM cuffs! Brilliant!"exclaimed the Doctor, snatching them from Ben, and clicked them on Harkness' wrists and ankles, behind his back

„Whats?"asked Martha

„Electomagnetic cuff. Put them on prisoners, and they can't touch any electric device. Or sonic. Hell, they can't touch any modern thingies. So if they want to escape, they have to stick with the pocket knife as a deadly weapon"he explained. Then continued his musings „Handy little thing, it is. They were invented in the 61th century by the ardenians. The other races discovered them through the Brotherhood. Where did you get them?"he asked Ben

Ben gave him a look, that couln't be misunderstood. It clearly said 'are you serious?'. When the Doctor didn't give any sign that he understood that, he answered „On the ship this morning"

Their conversation was interrupted by a pained groan. They turned their head, so they all faced the source of the sound.

Jack Harkness was waking up.

He opened his eyes, looked around, then sighed. He tried to move, but soon discovered, that his limbs are tied. It took him about half a minute to push himself into a sitting position. When he was relatively comfortable, he looked around again. He only saw Martha and the Doctor.

„Hello again. I don't think we've ever met."he said nodding to the Doctor. „I'm Jack Harkness, time agent. I…"

„You mean ex-time agent? Last time I checked you were an assassin. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong"interrupted Rose

„Rosie! How is the head? I hope that idiot didn't cause you much pain"he exclaimed, turning to face her. He also noticed the two other agents behind her, but not Jack „And Violet Black. Pleasure, as always. You're more beautiful than I remembered"at this point he was interrupted, again

„Why can't we have a silent prisoner. Just once."muttered Ben, rolling his eyes

„Ah, Benjamin. Isn't it a bit rude to tie your daddy up?"Harkness asked with feigned innocence

„Not as rude as genocide"Ben answered, without missing a beat

„Or abducting Torchwood agents"added Violet

„Violet, Dear. You know that I always do what I'm paid for"

„And what is that now"asked Jack, making Harkness spin around to face him. The conman gaped at Jack, then said

„You're the other one the woman mentioned. What are you? A clone? A shape-shifter?"

„That's none of your business. And answer the question."snapped Jack. After the talk with Ben he was watching out for the attempts to change a conversation

„Why should I tell you?"he asked

„If you don't, we're leaving you tied up for Torchwood to find you"answered Ben

Before Harkness could answer, they saw, or rather heard, two men entering the warehouse. The Doctor quickly put duct tape -he produced it from one of his bottomless pockets – over Harkness' mouth, preventing him from shouting. They dragged the struggling man behind a container, where he received a big dose of sedative –this one was fished out from the pocket of Ben's jacket. The others looked at him questioningly.

„In small doses it's a pain-killer. I wanted to give it to you because your wrist, but I forgot"he explained, and it was clear, that the last part was addressed to Rose

While they were occupied, the two intruder came closer. Jack wanted to avoid the fight - which would broke out if they discovered them- so he jumped out of their hiding spot to greet the as Harkness, grabbing and pulling out one of them with them.

„Hello, Gentlemen"he adapted Harkness' style, and noted that the new-comers were garrians

„Harkness"grunted the taller as greeting „Who's the other?"

„That's my temporary partner, Rose"he answered. He immediately noticed the weird glances they were giving them, even before feeling the swift kick that was delivered in his shin. He whirled around, and noticed, that the person there wasn't Rose. In fact, he was facing the rather annoyed Ben. He realized, that he must've grabbed him accidentally, instead of Rose

„Rose?"questioned the tall one, or alien1 as Jack dubbed it in his mind, while alien2 reached for his gun

„Alexander Rose"lied Ben smoothly, covering Jack's mistake

„The son of Brian Rose, the Duke of New Rome?"alien2 asked

„He is my uncle, but I'm sure you know that. Along with the fact, that women are not his preference of gender"he drawled in a tone, that reminded Jack of the snobby aristocrats of the 30th century. If he didn't know better, he would've believed that the man next to him was one of them

„Look, gentlemen, I don't have all day, so why don't we do what we're here for?"interrupted Jack. He didn't want to risk another slip-up

„Fine. Do you have the weapon?"

„Yes. Give me a moment."said Jack, and went back to the others to retrieve it

When he reached them, the Doctor grabbed his wrist, and whispered furiously „Are you out of your mind? You want to give it to them"

„No"Jack answered. „I just needed a reason to come here, so I could tell you to get behind them. When you're there, you could use the other dose of the sedative Ben shoved into my hand to stun one of the garrians, while we're dealing with the other"he finished, rather hurt, that even after the time they travelled together, the Doctor still didn't trust him completely

„Right. Sorry"the other man mumbled, then turned to the three women „Martha, you stay with Harkness, if he wakes, just hit him hard on the head. Violet, Rose you come with me. You have your gun with you right?...Perfect. If I can't knock him out, either of you shoot him."he turned back to Jack, and said „Is that okay, Captain?"

Jack nodded, grabbed the weapon and hurried back to the buyers. He watched the Doctor, Rose and Violet get into position

„Here we are"he set the device down the ground. Alien2 pulled a briefcase out. He opened it, and showed to Jack

„Liquified huon particles, six vial."alien2 made a move for the shield breaker, while alien1 said „It was a pleasure to trade with you"

Before alien2 reached the device, they heard a new voice right behind their back „Sorry to interrupt, but I can't let you to get that weapon. A race like yours shouldn't play with dangerous things like that"said the Doctor

The garrians whirled around and pulled their guns out, attepting to point them at the Doctor. But the Time Lord was faster, and stunned the taller. The other, no.2, turned back to shoot at Jack, but said man crouched down, so Ben could deal with the alien without him as an obscale.

The garrian and Ben fired at the same time, and fortunately for the latter, the former's aim wasn't very good. While Ben managed to shoot and stun him, the garrian blasted one of the containers, eight feet away from Ben's left side.

The Doctor and Jack quickly packed up the weapon and the briefcase, then they turned to the others

„Is everybody alright? Martha?"

„Fine. Harkness is still out."she answered

„Good. You"he said, turning to Rose and Violet, who nodded „Jack, Ben?"

„Fine""Alright"

„Okay, Now what are we doing with these two?"the Doctor asked

„The special-ops is surely on the way now. I say we tie them up too, and leave them to the Institute, along with Harkness"said Violet

„Good idea. Do you have ano….."he trailed off and grinned, when he saw the EM cuffs Ben was holding. He cuffed the garrians, then turned back to the man „Didn't pick you up one of those nifty electro-cages while you were on the ship?"he asked

Ben searched his pocket again, and now pulled out four little cube and handed them over. Meanwhile Jack dragged his alternate self over, and dropped him down, near the garrians. The Doctor put the cubes down around the stunned ones, then activated them with the sonic screwdriver. Green lights erupted from the parts, then connected in several places, forming a cage over the three occupants.

After he was done admiring his work, the Doctor slippped an arm around Rose's waist, and said „You know, I really don't understand why you were always nagging me about the things I have in my pocket. I mean look at the things Ben fished out"

„Useful gadgets and puppies are not the same, Doctor."Rose answered smiling

„Puppies? And I thought that the squirrel I found was the weirdest"quipped Martha

Right after Martha finished her sentence, Violet and Ben came back from their little tour to collect Harkness' things

„Here. You can keep them."said Ben, loading everything into Jack's arms. „His vortex manipulator can bring us back."the others nodded, and came closer to him „where did you parked your ship?"

„At the park."answered the Doctor „Near to the Nirvana poster on the stone wall. The cameras can't see it."

Three seconds, and an uncomfortable journey later the six of them were leaning to the wall near the TARDIS, trying to keep their last meal down

„Okay. That was really the last time I did that"moaned Violet

„I doubt that"spoke up the Doctor. „All of them turned to him, but he addressed his words to Ben „My past self just left the ship, to go after Rose, and I don't think it was just a mistake that you brought us here. Care to explain?"

After exchanging a look with her friend, Violet answered „The lab floor is full of security cameras. In …"she cheched the clock on the pole at the centre of the park „eleven minutes Hartmann will know that we helped you, and that Ben's not human. In thirteen minutes the three of us will be wanted. While it's not a problem for Rose, she can leave with you, Ben and I are screwed."

„With the device we could win a couple of minutes to get to the garage, go home, pack the necessary things and take off. Then meet up, find a nice planet or time frame, and live happily ever after"finished the story Ben

„This way you can find Jackie and Pete to say goodbye"added Violet, talking to Rose

„Okay"said the Doctor, and then watched the two running toward the garage. He turned to Rose „I know we already talked about it, but are you sure? Really, really, 100 sure?"

„I am."smiled Rose, then ran off.

From his place the Doctor could see Jackie and Pete exiting the building. He saw Jackie covering her mouth to stifle the sob, and saw Pete hugging her. He watched as Rose said goodbye, pausing only to wave to the drivers of the car and motorbike those exited the Institute. Then she turned back to her parents, hugged and kissed them again for the last time. He watched as she turned around, wiped her eyes and walked back to him. For a moment he caught Jackie's gaze; with that look he promised her that he'll look after Rose, that he'll love and protect her. Then he said, that he's sorry to tear her away. Jackie understood it, and gave him a watery smile. Then she turned, and let Pete led her away.

In that moment Rose arrived back. She kissed him, took his hand and said „Let's go home"

He smiled back, and opened the door. Martha immediately ran in, and disappeared into her room. When he turned to follow, he noticed, that Jack's still looking in the direction he saw the bike disappearing. The Doctor placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, and the three entered the TARDIS.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three months later Rose was sitting on a comfy couch in the library. After her return, she took up the habit of spending time there, sometimes reading, other times just staring at the flames in the fireplace. She often mused about the recent changes in her life. If somebody told her three months and a day ago, that this time she'd be here, Rose would've punched the person, for making fun of her.

But here she were in the TARIS, her home, with her Doctor. After coming back to their own universe, Martha came up to them, and said, that she wanted to go home for a while. She obviously realized that the Doctor and Rose would want to spend some times alone. She wanted to finish her training anyway. She said, that she'd be more than happy to come back after that.

Jack was back in Cardiff. The Doctor managed to took him back to the right year, but not the right month. They arrived six weeks earlier, six weeks before the Master takes over. Jack said, he didn't mind, he could occupy himself. He was helping to the two latest additions of the universe settle in.

She smiled at the memory, mostly when he remembered Jack's face, when the TARDIS rematerialized after departing from the park.

_Flashback-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_The two of them watched as Jack went to the storage room to put Harkness' things away, without saying a word to them. After the sound of his footsteps faded away, the Doctor turned to Rose and said:_

„_I fixed the controls."_

„_Yeah?"she asked back, without paying any attention. She was thinking about Jack._

„_Yeah. She travels not only in space and time, but might be able to make a trip or two in this world too."_

_Rose froze, then turned to him"Are you saying what I'm think you're saying?"she asked _

„_I do. But I thought, I'd check with you first. They're your friends"_

„_It would't hurt to ask. Let's go."_

_Right when the the ship rematerialized, Jack came back, asking if he could help. The Doctor made him pull levers and push buttons until they arrived. Jack went to open the door, eager to get away from the events of the day. He was a little suprised, when he found himself stepping into a living room, and was down right shocked, when a familiar voice spoke near him_

„_You know, it's rude to park in someone's flat without asking first"he drawled, then asked „So, what brings you here? Missed me already? I know I'm lovable, but seriously, we parted what, ten minutes ago?"_

„_Twenty-two. And now I see that the Russia sized ego is a family trait with you."said Rose from the TARDIS's door _

„_I agree."quipped Violet from the couch she was sitting on_

„_So, do you have everything packed?"Rose asked, nodding towards the bags they held_

_The two soon figured out what Rose wanted, and Ben was immediately objecting. However Violet found the idea very good; given that neither of them had any family left in that world. That way she didn't have to adapt to a whole new time frame. They argued for another two minutes, but they were cut off by the Doctor, who announced that the Torchwood team arrived. _

_With a last glance around his apartment, and the van that was approaching the building, Ben agreed to the plan too. He had only one thing to say. _

„_Is there a chance that you can get my bike?"_

„_Taken care of."the Doctor opened the TARDIS door, and pointed at his bike at the far end of the console room._

„_How…"_

„_Rose"_

_Ten minutes later they were back in Rose's universe, as Violet started to call it (until Rose pointed out, that it's theirs too, now). The landing happened in the Doctor's usual bumpy way, in the wrong time, but they didn't mind. It gave Jack an opportunity to help Violet and Ben learn about the differences, and get jobs._

_An hour after the landing they said their goodbye, and the three left the TARDIS. A couple of minutes later Martha told them about her wish to leave for a short time…_

_end of flashback---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Rose was pulled out of her memory world by the Doctor, who just entered the library after fixing God-knows-what in the control room.

„Hey, what're you doing?"he asked quietly. He was still afraid, that one day Rose'd regret her decision to come

„I was thinking about that three months ago I was in another world. And that how happy I am to be back."

He sat down next to her, and she leaned into him.

„I'm glad you're happy"he said, but she knew he didn't come to tell her that

„What brings you here?"

„Nothing really…….Okay, I found this planet in the neighbourhood. They say there is a giant monster in the lake that eats people. The problem is, that there should't be any animal, the water is poisonous."

„So you want to go and explore"she asked, smiling

He scratched his head behind his ear and answered „Yeah. But only if you want to…" He was this way in the last three months, always tiptoeing around her, as if she'd pack and go away any minute. She knew that it might take some time for him to adjust to the situation he found himself in. That he'll never lose her.

„Let's go, then"she announced

As she watched him bouncing all way to the door, she realized for the first time in three months, that she really was home, it's not a dream. She followed the Doctor, who grinned at her, then opened the door.

Rose smiled and grabbed his hand.

She knew she wouldn't have it any other way.

End

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Thank for all of you who read the story and reviewed. 


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